Wulonggou Great Wall

Wulonggou Great Wall

The Wulonggou Great Wall is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Wulonggou Great Wall is located in Laiyuan County, Hebei Province. Built during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, it is part of the Inner Great Wall. To the west, it connects to Xiaguan, south of Pingxingguan in Shanxi Province, and extends northeast into Lishui County. Within Laiyuan, the wall stretches 150 kilometers, passing through 12 towns and townships. Remarkably well-preserved, it boasts an imposing presence, and climbing it poses little danger or difficulty. This attraction is currently under development.

The purpose of building this section of the Great Wall was likely to prevent invasions by the Mongols. Although the Ming Dynasty had vast territory, its military remained weak due to an abnormal military system, resulting in no strong army capable of stabilizing the borders. China being a multi-ethnic nation at the time, northern groups such as the Mongols and Manchus posed direct threats to Beijing. Altan Khan once breached the Gubeikou Pass and besieged the capital for three days; in 1449, after the Tumu Crisis, the Oirats broke through the Zijing Pass and advanced straight toward the capital. Wulonggou served as an outer defensive line for the Zijing Pass — if defended, it was a thin line of resistance; if breached, the gates to the capital would lie wide open. Building the Inner Great Wall was a product of the Ming Dynasty’s unique circumstances: the Mongols were not yet fully subdued, alternately submitting and rebelling; the Manchus in the northeast were also rising and frequently clashing with Ming forces. Constructing an internal defensive line in their own backyard to protect the capital was truly a last resort. When Qi Jiguang served as the General of Jizhou, he oversaw military training in the three garrisons of Jizhou, Changping, and Baoding — covering the area from Jixian in Tianjin, Changping in Beijing, to Baoding in Hebei, encircling Beijing. Qi Jiguang’s main adversary at the time was the Mongols, and this section of the Great Wall was also built under his direction.

One of the most distinctive features of the Wulonggou Great Wall is how remarkably well-preserved it is. It has remained largely unchanged for five or six hundred years, even more intact than sections of the Great Wall near Beijing that have been recently restored. The wall is mostly built from stone blocks, and the watchtowers are made of standardized blue bricks, many of which are also well-preserved. Aside from the roofed platforms on top having been removed, the watchtowers are almost entirely intact. Laiyuan is rich in limestone resources, and the bricks were bonded with lime mortar — this may be one reason why the wall here has held up so well. The most important factor, however, is the minimal human damage. Apart from naturally collapsed sections, there are few signs of deliberate destruction. Although the Wulonggou Great Wall is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit, apart from the sign marking it as such, there is virtually no visible protection in place. That it remains so intact today is nothing short of a miracle.

The watchtowers of the Wulonggou Great Wall are generally very tall and densely spaced, with around a dozen towers packed into a stretch of about a thousand meters. Some watchtowers jut forward, seemingly serving as outposts, supporting those behind and beside them — a formation rarely seen elsewhere. The main entrance of each tower is over a meter above the ground, and the interior is quite spacious, with peculiar ancient poems and inscriptions covering the walls and ceilings. The ladders leading to the tops of the towers are gone, but small footholds carved into the walls allow climbers to ascend. Considering that each climb might cause further damage, the author chose not to go up. The window frames were originally made of wood, but all have been removed.

On June 25, 2001, the Wulonggou Great Wall, as a Ming Dynasty ancient structure, was approved by the State Council to be included in the fifth group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.