Our next stop (in roughly the same area as the Yardang National Geopark) was the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty:
The symbols on the top of the above rock are the World Heritage symbol and the the UNESCO symbol:
We visited the Great Wall of China near Beijing about 10 years ago, and in my mind, that wall extended a great distance, always looking more or less like the section we saw. I was quite surprised on this trip to discover how dumb I am when it comes to the Great Wall. There are multiple unconnected sections built over the period of a couple thousand years, and a lot of them don't look at all like the section near Beijing:
The Han Dynasty started in 202 BC and ended in 220 AD. It followed the Qin Dynasty (when China was first unified, the Great Wall was started, the Terracotta Warriors were created, etc.). The Han Dynasty is considered to be the "Golden Age" of China. Much of the significant portions of the early wall were built during those years:
The symbols on the top of the above rock are the World Heritage symbol and the the UNESCO symbol:
We visited the Great Wall of China near Beijing about 10 years ago, and in my mind, that wall extended a great distance, always looking more or less like the section we saw. I was quite surprised on this trip to discover how dumb I am when it comes to the Great Wall. There are multiple unconnected sections built over the period of a couple thousand years, and a lot of them don't look at all like the section near Beijing:
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| Map from here |
The Han Dynasty started in 202 BC and ended in 220 AD. It followed the Qin Dynasty (when China was first unified, the Great Wall was started, the Terracotta Warriors were created, etc.). The Han Dynasty is considered to be the "Golden Age" of China. Much of the significant portions of the early wall were built during those years:
 |
| Map from here |
The Silk Road trading route was in place by this time period, and this part of the wall was built as a defense against the pesky Mongolians.
The section we visited was in an area that looked very uninviting, and I wondered why anyone would come here, but as part of the Silk Road passage to and from the west, this region saw a lot of travelers:
What remains of the wall doesn't look a thing like the Great Wall near Beijing:
