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No trip to China is complete without a peek at the Great Wall.
Construction started in the 7th century B.C. to protect the budding Chinese sedentary civilisation from raids by the nomadic Xiong Nu tribes from the north. The northern vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty had built the first walls for their defence. These were joined together to form the Great Wall when Emperor Qin Shihuang unified China around Chang'an in 221 B.C.
The Qin dynasty extended the wall to more than 10,000 li or 5,000 kilometres (black dotted line on the map above). The wall was a fair distance north from the capital that was in Chang'an (Xian) until Kublai Khan moved it north to Beijing (northern capital) in the 13th century. In the 14th century the Ming dynasty undertook a major effort to restore and further extend the wall. (red line on the map above).
Thus, the wall that tourists visit at Badaling dates from the 14th century AD and not the 3rd BC. It is 8 m high and 6 m wide at the top.
It is said to be visible from the moon!
From far away or close up it is hugely impressive.
The wall snakes up and down the crest of mountains. It can be quite steep in some places as you can see on the two pictures below.
In the distance, you can see the vast central Asian steppes where hordes of nomads on horseback built great empires to raid the neighbouring sedentary civilisations.
May first festivities celebrate workers in the most countries except in the USA and Canada where Labour day is on the first Monday of September.
We visited children's schools and were delighted by their singing and dancing.
Children were featured prominently in Beijing's May day festivities...
But the hard reality of the classroom did not appear so joyful in farming communities.
We were also taken to visit the Ming tombs near Badaling.
The Ming ruled China for almost three centuries (1368 to 1644). They were overthrown by Manchu invaders from the north who set up the Qing dynasty that lasted until 1911.
Ming emperors were put to rest in these tombs not far from their capital Beijing.
We had had a most fascinating trip in the then mysterious China but the best was yet to come...
The meeting between our minister Donald Macdonald and Zhou Enlai was not confirmed until the last minute when we were rushed from the Beijing Hotel to the Great Hall of the People and made to wait in a large empty room.
After a while, he entered without being announced by a small side door. He radiated a strong presence in spite of his small size and youthful looks. After shaking hands with each of us he immediately got down to serious business by presenting the Chinese position with regard to the "Law of the Sea" that Canada was promoting at that time.
He spoke Chinese through interpreters during the formal exchanges but when that was over he relaxed and had small talk in French and English with us.
Mao was still living at that time but it was becoming evident that his cultural revolution had been a mistake and that a great power struggle was brewing between the moderates headed by Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping and the radical communists led by Mao's wife Jiang Qing.
Zhou Enlai and Mao both died in 1976 but the moderates prevailed and the pragmatic Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1977. I shudder to think of what China would have become had the radical gang of four won that struggle (think of today's North Korea).
Our mission essentially over, we visited Guangzhou (Canton) and returned to Hong Kong to split up. Some returned home via Tokyo and Vancouver while others, like me, chose to continue westward...
