"Wild Great Wall" a Huanghuacheng Travel Page by aukjejetty

About 60km north of Beijing is Huanghuacheng [Yellow flower great wall], named after all the yellow flowers in this area in the summer. Part of the wall is under water and becomes submerged at high tide, and the walkway is mainly overgrown with trees making this a rough Great Wall experience. A good place to see the wall if you want to get away from the comercialized areas.

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General Cai Kai

There is a legend about the building of the Wall. In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor ordered a general named Cai Kai to build Huanghuacheng Great Wall and he spent many years to finish the project. The emperor was unhappy. When the emperor heard the word by some official saying that General Cai Kai spent too much money, Cai Kai was put to death. Later, the emperor felt that something not right, so he ordered someone to investigate the Great Wall. And the man found the section of the Great Wall supervised by Cai Kai was extremely firm. Then, the emperor knew that General Cai Kai had done no wrong, so he rebuilt a tablet and a tomb for Cai Kai to correct his mistake. At the same time, the emperor had someone engraved "Jintang" in a rock to describe the firmness of this section of Great Wall. Therefore, Huanghuacheng Great Wall is also called Jintang Great Wall.

My guidebook mentioned a slightly different version of this legend and says that when the Mongols attacked, Cai Kai's efforts paid off; Huanghua was the only fortress that succesfully warded off the enemy. Cai's body was exhumed and reburied with honor near the wall.

Whatever version is true, I feel bad for general Cai Kai, and my page is in memory of him.