◎II.World Cultural Heritage: The Great Wall and Sh...
1.The Great Wall
After the establishment of a centralized country, Emperor Shihuang,founder of the Qin Dynasty, connected the original city walls of Qin, Zhao,Yan and other states, strengthened and extended them, and built the famous Great Wall.From then on, except for a few dynasties, almost all dynasties built the Great Wall in the Chinese history.The Great Wall in the Qin, Han and Ming dynasties are each more than 10,000 li, of which the Great Wall in the Ming dynasty has been preserved the most completely.There is totally more than 500-li Great Wall in Qinhuangdao from Old Dragon's Head at the entrance of the Great Wall to the sea to the west of Xingshuling Village,Xiaomaping Township, Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County, the essential section of the Great Wall.
2.The First Pass in the World
Shanhaiguan (Shanhai Pass), located in the northeast of Qinhuangdao City and also known as “the first pass in the world,” is an important part of the Great Wall.General Xu Da set up a garrison here in 1381.It backs onto the Yan Mountains on the north, and faces the Bohai Sea on the east, and is the throat leading from Northeast China to North China.It was named because it lies between mountains and sea.Previous people used to describe its importance with the poem “It is the unparalleled key to Shengjing and Beijing, and the first pass of the Great Wall.” The plaque written with “The First Pass in the World” is hanging on the East Gate Tower of Shanhaiguan.Each of the characters is 1.6m high, and the strokes are dignified and vigorous.
3.Old Dragon's Head
The Great Wall meanders southward from Guancheng, turns sharply to be parallel to the coast at Nanhaikou, and enters the Bohai Sea which is 4km from the Shanhaiguan.It is the only part of the Great Wall that goes into the sea.People compare the Great Wall to a giant dragon, which passes through the desert, climbs up the Helan Mountains, crosses the Taihang Mountains,goes down from the Yan Mountains and dashes to the Bohai Sea.It has tied a knot in the Liaonxi Corridor, raised at the grand Shanhai Pass, and then led its neck into the sea.The part that enters the sea is Old Dragon's Head.In the 260 years from the Hongwu Period in the early Ming Dynasty to the Chongzhen Period in the late Ming Dynasty, Old Dragon's Head had been continuously built and gradually improved.Since the founding of the Qing Dynasty,Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang visited Old Dragon's Head many times, leaving a large number of poems and calligraphy works.The board written with “Tian Kai Hai Yue” on Old Dragon's Head is said to be a relic of the Tang Dynasty.These four words express the charm of the wonderful landscape of “boundless and green, created by the heaven and the earth.”