Mutianyu

Mutianyu (Chinese慕田峪, Pinyin Mutianyu ) is a section of the Great Wall in Huairou district town 70 km northeast of Beijing. The section of the Wall is to the west in connection with the Juyongguan section and the Gubeikou Gate in the east. As one of the best preserved section of the Great Wall Mutianyu served as the northern rampart of the capital and the imperial tombs.

With construction to begin in the middle of the 6th century during the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Great Wall of Mutianyu is older than the Badaling section. In the Ming dynasty began under General Xu Since the establishment of today's Wall built on the foundations of the wall from the Northern Qi Dynasty. 1404 a transition was built into the wall. 1569 the wall was erected again, and to this day most of the parts are well preserved.

The Mutianyu section stands out because of its large scale and build quality among the sections of the Great Wall. Mostly built of granite, the wall is seven to eight feet tall and the wall crown four to five feet wide. A special feature of the 2,250 -meter-long section of the 22 watchtowers. The section is staffed with battlements on both sides, so that the defenders could fire to both sides. The gatehouse at the passage consists of three watchtowers, one big in the center and two smaller on both sides. The towers stand on a terrace and are internally connected together.

The wall section is open to visitors, 2 cable cars make the climb easier. As a tourist attraction, a departure has been set up with sled on wheels that ride on a winding metal track from the wall down, comparable to a summer toboggan run.

Near the wall section is the village of the same name, which has partnered with the place in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. In the village, the Americans James H. Spear has invested about 15 million U.S. dollars along with various builders and thus converted more than 30 cottages, an old glass brick factory and a former village school in weekend accommodation and restaurants.