The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall
2 min readMutianyu section was located in Huairou county in Beijing，about 73 kilometers away from the urban area of Beijing.This section of the Great Wall is also preserved very well.
Mutianyu section of the Great Wall enjoys a long history.According to the historical literatures，over 1，400 years ago，in the Northern Qi dynasty（550-577），the Great Wall had already been constructed here，but the Mutianyu section we see today was built on the basis of the Northern Qi Great Wall with Xu Da，the great general under Zhu Yuanzhang，in charge in the early Ming dynasty（1368-1644）.Before the construction of the Great Wall，Xu Da used to fight against the Yuan troops here when they drove out the Yuan ruler in the early Ming dynasty（1368-1644）.
Not long after the victory over the Yuan troops，the Ming dynasty（1368-1644）began to build the Great Wall and passes in Mutianyu because“after the Yuan regime was driven to the north，they still tried to restore their reign for many times”，and Mutianyu was one of the most important places in section defense. In order to further strengthen the defense work of the capital Beijing, after the middle period of the Ming dynasty(1368-1644), the court speciallytransferred from the south General Qi Jiguang, who was famous for driving out the Japanese pirates, as the military commander of Jizhen, to superintend the construction of The present Great Wall at Mutianyu the Great Wall in the north of Beijing, while Mutianyu section was the one with the finest construction and most unique form in the restoration process.
The construction of Mutianyu section was of unique style, which was very rare in the construction of all the sections of the Great Wall. Here the watchtowers are densely-dispersed and passes are of strategically positioned, with crenels on both sides of the wall. This section of the Great Wall is connected to the west with Juyongguan section in Changping region and linking to the east with Gubeikou section in Miyun county in Beijing. It has long been a strategically important stronghold since the ancient time, which is called “Impregnable Pass on Perilous Mountain”. Together with the other passes of Juyongguan and Zhenbiancheng etc, they compose an integrated defense system.
Mutianyu is located in the center of the mountains, with a moist and warm climate, quite suitable for the growth of the trees.A poet in the Qing dynasty had written a poem saying that”a valley in Mutianyu is very special”,”with thousands of trees of peach blossoms and tens of thousands of willows”, which is really another wonder ofthe Great Wall. The fragrant flowers blooming in spring, the limpid rivers flowing in summer, the red maple leaves covering the mountains in autumn and the world of pure white shining in winter, all render Mutianyu the reputation of “Mutianyu, the branch shines out in the Great Wall”at home and abroad.
