Qinqiang Great Wall Tourist Area in Wuzhong Banner

Qinqiang Great Wall Tourist Area in Wuzhong Banner

The Qinqiang Great Wall Tourist Area in Wuzhong Banner is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

After unifying the six states in 221 BC, to defend against the Xiongnu, Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered large-scale construction of the Great Wall in the north in the 32nd year of his reign (215 BC).

One kilometer west of Hongqi Shop at Wubulankou in Urad Middle Banner, there lies a collapsed section of the Great Wall. The cross-section reveals an additional layer of neatly built inner walls within the stone rampart. Research confirms that this section was originally part of the Zhao-built Great Wall, which the Qin later reinforced by raising and widening it into the current Qinqiang Great Wall.

Near the Great Wall, at intervals of 0.5 to 1.5 kilometers, there are tall stone mounds. From these collapsed piles, the original surrounding walls can still be identified. Based on the remaining sections, it is inferred that these walls were about 5 to 7 meters wide on each side and 6 to 8 meters high—these are the beacon towers (beacon fires), used for sending alerts along the Great Wall.

The beacon towers were mostly built atop broad, visible mountaintops, generally no more than three kilometers from the Great Wall. Not far from the beacon towers, on nearby high ground, there are often remains of housing structures. At important mountain passes and strategic gateways, small fortified outposts can also be found—these are military castles attached to the Great Wall.