One of the main features of Qingshanguan is the watergate located east of the fortress town and used as the main entrance today.

Presumably the gate used to have a one ton bronze floodgate. It could be closed to store water and opened to wash away any invading troops.

It is believed that the bronze gate was washed away in a flood in the 13th year of the Qing Emperor Guangxu (1871 – 1908).

The fortress of the Qingshan Pass have recently been rebuilt and now welcomes tourists. Furthermore a small hotel and restaurant have been build.

Many of the houses from the old fortress have been carefully rebuild and gives a good impression on how life might have been many years ago during the Ming Dynasty.

The roads are narrow and many of the houses is now used for various things to help the tourists like police station and small shops.

Apparently some of the houses can also be used for accommodation for tourists visiting this remote location far away from the the pulsating life in Beijing.

Like the rest of the Qingshanguan the fortress is also full of trees and small bushes which gives the whole area a very relaxed feeling and provides a welcomed shadow from the hot Chinese summer.

The fortress wall consist of a north and south (seen above) gate and the wall is connected to the Great Wall. So far no repair have been made on the wall so only the houses have been rebuild.

After admiring the pictures of Qingshanguan in the book Hebei – The Great Wall Legacy I finally decided to go there myself to have a look and see if it’s really as beautiful as the pictures suggest.

Arriving at Qingshanguan (青山关, qīngshānguān) it’s clear how the place got its name meaning green mountain pass – it’s surely one of the most green places I’ve ever visited the Great Wall and the whole area is like one big garden.

Qingshanguan is located in the north-eastern part of Tangshan in the Hebei province. The roads in this area are extremely bad so it’s a bumpy ride to get there but it’s surly worth the trouble of getting there.

From the Jingshen expressway either follow S262 towards Qianxi (迁西) and then follow the signs towards Qingshanguan or follow S252 north towards Qian’an (迁安) and continue all the way to Qinglong (青龙) and then follow S251 west for about 35 kilometres and then go south over the mountain to Qingshanguan. The latter of the two suggestions is much longer than the first but the condition of the road is far better, probably making it just as fast and a much more enjoyable ride.

The Great Wall at Qingshanguan was first build during the reign for the first Ming Emperor, Hongwu, from 1368 to 1398. Later the wall was renovated and reinforced by the famous General Qi Jiguang (1528 – 1588) well-known for his reinforcement of the Great Wall in eastern China.

From the restored fortress of Qingshanguan the wall rises steeply to the north and south.

The Wall here is an interesting mix of both stone and brick wall, and while stone walls seems to dominate the south ridge, brick walls is the most dominating type of the north ridge.

Entering is the wall is a bit complicated because the lack of good signs. One option is to enter from the fortress where signs show the way to the wall, however this seems illogical when first arriving at Qingshanguan and the best way is probably to climb a small path on some rocks north of the watergate but no signs show that this is an actual possibility. Judging by the conservations among other visitors we were not the only ones having problems finding the way up to the wall.

Once at the wall it’s possible to walk for about 1 kilometre before the wall becomes really steep. Since we spend a lot of time searching for the entrance to the wall we decided to turn back here, leaving us enough time to explore the restored fortress as well, however I’ll surely return one day to make an attempt to reach the top at Qingshanguan.

As many other places away from Beijing the amount of tourists here is very limited so it’s possible to be more or less alone on the wall at Qingshanguan.

Entrance price: 30 RMB

Date of visit: June 9, 2008

Passing Shanhaihuan on the Jingshan express way I have a few times seen what seems to be the remnants of a beacon tower, so when returning from the May holiday I decided to make a short stop outside Shanhaiguan to take a closer look.

Bradt’s Great Wall of China mention a beacon tower called Bianqiangzi 5 kilometres east of Shanhaiguan which is probably this beacon tower although no information was found around the tower.

The beacon tower is in very bad condition and only the rammed earth is left without any trace of the bricks or stones that once hold the rammed earth in place.

The stones at the base of the beacon tower seems to be a reconstruction as well as the square wall surrounding the beacon tower.
Apparently there are planes to make this beacon tower into a tourist attraction, however is seem a bit like the work have cease at the moment, maybe because workers are busy elsewhere preparing Shanhaiguan for the summers Olympic which will bring events to  nearby Qinhuangdao.    

The gate at the main road also looks half finished and seems to have been that for a long time. A bit sad to see but hopefully the project can be finished soon so the beacon tower can be saved for future generations two see.

During my last visit to Baiyangyu I noticed what seems to be the remnant of a beacon tower located very close to the main wall.

To me is it seemed like a strange place to pit the beacon tower, since a small mountain is located very close to the wall, from where it would be easy to see the light from the fire far way.

It made me wonder if this was part of an older wall, since part of another wall can be seen north of the main wall. Furthermore the base for the tower doesn’t look like what can be found on the watch towers, which might indicate that the beacon tower is older that the wall itself.

The Baiyangyu Great Wall was first build during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577) and was only three meters in width at that time. Later it was reinforced by Qi Jiguang during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the width was increased to 5-6 meters. The main wall located close to the pass was build with bricks, while parts located far away from the pass was build by piling up rocks, as can be seen in the section called Marble Great Wall.

These extra walls are also build by piling up rocks, as well as other walls further down the mountain. However the walls in the valley are clearly made to protect the sparse farmland and to stop the flow of water down the ravine.

According to one of the very few sources regarding the Great Wall in Hebei province these walls close to the main wall was build at the same time as the Great Wall but it doesn’t say exactly when, so it’s unclear if it is Ming Dynasty or not. The auxiliary walls are made of stones from top to bottom and was used to strengthen the defence of the main wall.

Apart from the wall there also seems to be a trench running along the wall from east to west which more or less follow the main wall and the auxiliary walls. Traces of similar layout can be found at nearby Liujiakou.

In the main wall close to the beacon tower there is a small gate trough the wall probably to facilitate access to the beacon tower just outside the wall, although it might seem a bit strange to weaken the defence by installing a gate here.

Apart from avoiding the steep mountain in the beginning of the Baiyangyu section, another advantages of taking the easy way up is to see the two stone tablets inserted into the south side of the wall to mark the joint of to different sections.

West of the boundary tablet white limestones are used as the base of the wall, while east of the boundary tablet, purple stones are used as the base. The red and white stones at the jointing point make a striking contrast.

The western tablet bearing the inscription zhong xie tai ping lu dong jie marks the eastern boundary of the Zhongxietaiping road.

The eastern tablet bearing the inscription dong xie yan he lu xi jie marks the western boundary of the Dongxieyanhe road.

During the Ming Dynasty the Great Wall in the Tangshan area was under the administration of Ji Town, which was on of nine towns. Ji Town consisted of twelve regions, each being responsible for the defence and renovation of the Great Wall in its area. During the construction of the wall, stone tablets were installed at the border between the regions. The two tablets shown here thus mark the boundary between the Yanhe and Taiping region.

In the weekend I went back to The Baiyangyu Great Wall located in the north-western part of the Tangshan area in Hebei province. It was the third time I visited this section but first time for my wife – she have heard me praise this section many times so she wanted to see if it’s really so great.

We choose the easy way up to avoid the steep mountain in order to have more time on the Great Wall. However for first time visitors of Baiyangyu it is recommended to hike from the small town of Baiyangyu to see the magnificent view from the top of the mountain and try to climb the steep wall at this point.

From the top of the wall there is a beautiful view of the valley to the south and in the mountains to the north the Great Wall can be seen winding its way over the mountaintops like a giant dragon.

Baiyangyu is also known as the Marble Great Wall because of the use of natural occurring white rocks to build part of the Great Wall in this area. After entering the wall it’s about 2 kilometres hike to the beginning of the Marble Great Wall.

Some places the wall is in really bad condition and part of the wall have collapse leaving only part of the wall intact. Especially the Marble Great Wall is in bad condition because of the lower quality of the wall owing to the building material.

Close to the Marble Great Wall several bricks bearing the mark 中 (zhong, meaning middle) can be found. Similar bricks can be seen at Liujiakou not so far away.

The markings refer to the production of the bricks and several other examples can be found on other sections of the Great Wall.

The first two times I visited Baiyangyu I didn’t continue at the steep mountain at the Marble section, but this time I wanted to go to the top. Seen from the road the mountain looks steep, but the main problem is the rocky surface that makes it difficult to climb and even more difficult to descent.

Because of the difficulty of the climb the mountain is not recommend for beginners or people with less experience. Once at the top the view is magnificent and the wall can be seen winding is way to east and west.

On the west side the Marble Great Wall continues for a few kilometres before it again resume its normal stone/brick configuration. The wall seems to be in fairly good condition here and can be accessed by road by continuing from Baiyangyu village. I hope to be able to go back to Baiyangyu one day to make an attempt to climb to the top of this part of the wall. It looks rather steep in the beginning, but once at the top is seems to be fairly level.

The top of the mountain houses a small watch tower not similar to the other watch towers seen at Baiyangyu. However only half remains of some of the watch towers so it’s difficult to see how big these originally were.

To get to Baiyangyu take the Jingshen (Beijing-Shenyang) express way and exit towards Qian’an (迁安) and then follow S252 towards Qinglong (青龙). At Jianchangyingzhen (建昌营镇) continue on the road for a short time and then follow the sign towards Baiyangyu (白羊峪). It’s possible to enter the the wall two places, either at a small site after the first mountain (clearly visible with a traditional Chinese gate at the roadside) or it’s possible to follow the road all the way to the Baiyangyu village and enter the wall from here.

Entrance price: 20 RMB

Date of visit: April 27, 2008

Yesterday I visited the Banchangyu Great Wall section in the Qinhuangdao area in the eastern Hebei province. Banchangyu is located approximately 40 kilometres north of Qinhuangdao. From Qinhuangdao follow S251 towards Qinglong until Yiyuankou. From Yiyuankou a small mountain road leads north towards the Banchangyu scenic area.

I have not been able to find much information regarding this section of the Great Wall. However according to the leaflet we received at the ticket office the area both contains an early Ming wall and a late Ming wall. The two sections can be seen on the below picture from Google Earth, the blue being the early wall and the red the late wall:

The early wall is made of stone and can be seen on the way trough the scenic area which also contains various temples and natural sights. The late Ming wall is lined with the well known gray bricks. Apparently the wall in this area was first constructed in 1381 and later renovated and expanded in 1571, so it seems that when renovating the wall a new wall was build to the north of the old wall in the steep mountains and the old wall was left as it were.

A good place to stop is the big restaurant in the middle of the scenic area. From here it’s a steep climb towards the Great Wall, but the wall in this area is truly worth the effort.

The wall in this area fully exploit the natural defence provided by the steep mountains, making it very difficult for the enemy to intrude.

At some places the wall is almost vertical.

From the top it’s possible to see the wall wind its way south towards Yiyuankou which looks like a very interesting trek, so I hope to be able to go back to this area one day.

According to one of the locals the local government have some plans to restore the wall at Banchangyu. I really hope they don’t succeed with their plans and make a new Badaling.

The Wall is already in fairly good condition so it would be sad to see it restored. Apparently they don’t like that the wall don’t have any inside parapet, however I didn’t see any evidence that there ever being an inside parapet.

Close Banchangyu some brick kilns have been found. For more info about that please see here and here.

Entrance price: 30 RMB

Date of visit: April 19, 2008

According to People’s Daily Online part of the Shanhaiguan Pass in the eastern part of Hebei will restored before the Olympic later this year.

Authentic scenes from the Ming and Qing Dynasties will be restored before the Olympic Games. A commercial street, built in the style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a main building modeled after a Si He Yuan (a quadrangular courtyard), will be a reproduction of Ming and Qing humanity and commercial civilization.

The route of the Olympic torch on August 2 of this year into Qinhuangdao has been officially confirmed. The torch will enter the city at Laolongtou – the eastern starting point of the Great Wall – and the torch will pass through Shanhai Pass district, the harbour district and then arrive at the Olympic Avenue Park located in Beidaihe district. (People’s Daily Online)

Qinhuangdao will host some of the preliminary football matches.

One can only hope that Shanhaiguan will be restored according to the original design avoiding some of the errors seen elsewhere.