"GREAT WALL, BEIJING 1" a Beijing Travel Page by swesn

The Great Wall is reputedly the only man-made structure visible from space or moon, isn't it?

Building of the Great Wall begun in the Qin dynasty when Emperor Qin Shihuang unified China.

Hundreds and thousands of workers were placed in hard labour to build the wall.

It stretches from the east coast of China all the way to Jiayu Guan in Gansu Province, way out there at the Gobi Desert.

Avoid the most touristed Badaling section of the Wall. Make the effort to climb the wall at Huang Hua to experience the Wall's quiet charm.

Mao surveys the busy traffic in front of the Tianan Men, the entrance to the Forbidden City.

The Tiananmen Square is China's answer to Moscow's Red Square where a lot of the country and city's histories are made.

Chairman Mao can be remembered wearing his Red Guard uniform, giving speeches and reviewing parades here. His embalmed body lies in the Mao Zedong Mausoleum nearby. In 1989, army tanks bulldozed pro-democracy demonstrators.

Now, it is a popular kite-flying place.

This shopping street called Dachilan is near Qian Men, at the southern end of Tiananmen Square. There is a mix of shops selling food, silk, jade, lanterns, herbal medicine, clothing, etc...

This is one of the few remaining meandering antique streets, called 'hutongs' around the centre of Beijing. Many had been removed to in an effort to modernise the city.