Chadao Village
3 min readTHE PROSPEROUS VILLAGE—— CHADAO Village
West City Gate of Chadao Village.Surrounded by an unbroken necklace of mountains, when autumn falls in Chadao thesky is azure blue, laced with light clouds, and the mountains are carpeted in red leaves.These natural elements come together to form an enchanting view once known as one of theEight Famous Sights of Yanqing — “Chadao Autumn Wind.”
Source of Good F ortune
Chadao Village, located at the foot of the Badaljn g Section of the Great Wall, in BadalingTown of Beijing, boasts a long history and exceptional advantages of natural resources, and isespecially attractive to Great Wall tourists, who also come for the genuine, local—flavoredmeals.
Here, visitors can stay in a farmer’s house or in an ancient-style compound dating tothe Ming or Qing Dynasty, feast on genuine barbecue and other rural—flavored dishes, and plythe villagers’ fields to pick fresh and healthy fruit and vegetables. Tourists can also experiencethe nearby ancient battlefield on a ruined section of the Great Wall, enjoy the night charm ofThe Wall, visit the Wildlife World, and gallop on the Kangxi Grassland. Chadao Village’s long history began in 1551, the 30th year of the reign of Ming .
Emperor J iajing, taking shape with more than 1,000 households. After the Eight—PowerAllied Forces invaded Tianjin in 1900, Empress Dowager Ci Xi fled from the ForbiddenCity, and when passing through the area she stayed in the village. In ancient times, as anoutpost of the Great Wall, Chadao Village occupied a strategic position and played aparticularly defensive role.Concurrent with the launch of the renovation project of the Great Wall, in 2001Chadao Village was cited as a cultural unit under municipal-level protection. After yearsof reconstruction, the Wall in Chadao Village regained its original appearance. The Eastand West City Gates and the South City Wall of the Village have also been renovated, andinside the city wall the City Emperor Temple, the Temple of Guan Yu, and the ancienttheater have been reconstructed, and are now open to tourists. “Now in our village, youwill not find a single wire pole.” says Li Baoli, director of the village committee. “Becausewe constructed a conduit trench, 1.8 meters highand 1.6 meters wide, to enclose lighting lines,telecommunications lines, closedecircuit TVcable, and even the water pipes and drainage.”
According to a long-term plan, phase—by— A stone lion, witnessing the change of times. Antt‘que—sty/e houses. An exterior scene of City God Temple, phase the village will restore the ancientstrccts, houses, mosques, governmentoffices, and other ancient structures in lightof the Ming and Qing styles, so as to forma tourist destination faithful in appearanceto the ancient city.
The village, as a folk-custom site, is included in the internationalhostel system, and tourism will become amajor growth point of the local economy.Now home to 290 households, Chadaois a model tourist village of the city of Beijingand even of the country, and is the richestamong all the villages in Yanqing County.In 1998 and 2000, it was cited as one of the“100 Most Prosperous Villages in BeijingSuburbs” by the Beijing MunicipalCommission of Rural Affairs.
