Simatai & Jinshanling Great Wall Adventure Tour

This morning, we will pick you up at your hotel and then drive you to the northeast. About 2 hours later, you will arrive at the Simatai Great Wall. It is 141 kilometers away from Beijing. Your adventure will start from the Simatai Great Wall that is one of the sections of the Great Wall. It is 5.4 kilometers long. And there are more than 30 towers on it.

Then you will go to the Jinshanling Great Wall on foot. It is next to the Simatai Great Wall. There are many loopholes in the Jinshanling Great Wall. If you observe these loopholes carefully, you will find that they are of different shapes, such as peach, head of the array and knife handle. After visiting the Jinshanling Great Wall, we will drive you back to your hotel.

Jinshanling Great Wall

Simatai Great Wall

Today, you will go to visit Tian’anmen Square. It was built in 1417 in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Many important events happened in this place. For instance, on October 1^st, 1949, the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China was held in Tian’anmen Square. Besides, the military parades on National Day are held in this place, too.

Then you will go to the Forbidden City (closed each Monday) that is on the north side of Tian’anmen Square. Emperors of the Ming and the Qing Dynasties (1636-1912) lived in this place all their lives. And there is a story about the Forbidden City. One night, a thief crept into the Forbidden City and stole many historical curiosities. When he was close to the gate of the Forbidden City and almost left, some guards came here. The thief immediately climbed up a wall and hide there. The guards couldn’t see him if they didn’t look up. However, one of the guards had an intuition that someone was hiding on the wall. So the guard raised his head and then found the thief. The guard immediately asked his colleagues to catch the thief and then called the police. How lucky the guard was! If he hadn’t raised his head at that time, the thief would have already escaped.

Next, you will take a rickshaw to visit Hutong. It is next to Shicha Lake. Hutong means small alley in Chinese. The old dwellings in Hutong have been built a long time ago. You can visit one of the dwellings to experience the local people’s lifestyle in Hutong.

Finally, we will drive you for about 23 minutes to the Summer Palace. It is situated 15 kilometers northwest of Hutong. As an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty, the Summer Palace is so large and covers an area of 2.9 square kilometers. You will see temples, theaters, palaces, lakes, and mountains there.

Tian’anmen Square

The Forbidden City

Author: Xinli Zhang

Proofreader: Yan Liu