Saturday, October 12, 2013
The Great(ly) Overgrown Wall of China
Seen here is a section of the Great Wall of China tourists don’t typically see. as travel photographer Trey Ratcliff recalls:
“Just to get to this point required a long walk through a rocky forest. It wasn’t like the super-pristine part of the Great Wall (which is actually quite fake and Disney-like) — where you can drive up in a huge tour bus and park in a huge parking lot. No, it wasn’t like that at all. Instead, there was a “path” that was barely discernible (much less so when I walked back in the dark alone!) that wove up through a forest along an old creek bed. I’m not sure I could find it again if I had to!”
The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials. It was generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC. Since then, the Great Wall has been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; with the majority of the existing wall reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).
