Review: Jiankou Great Wall Review

[Bryan]

Summary

Jiankou is one of the best places for a serious Great Wall enthusiast. It has a wide variety of places to climb. It has terrific scenery and offers great opportunities for photographers. It’s reasonably close to Beijing. And as the eastern meeting point of the inner and outer Ming Walls, it connects to long stretches of Great Wall in three directions.

Access

Jiankou can be accessed from either the south side or the north side. The south side is much easier to reach from Beijing, but the climb up to the Wall is much longer and steeper. The north side is a longer route from Beijing but provides much easier access to the Wall and also allows you to reach more places on the Jiankou Wall rather than just one or two choices.

Access from the south is from the area of the Shun Tong hong zun yu yang zhi zhong xin (shùn tōng hóng zūn yú yǎng zhí zhōng xīn, 順通虹尊魚养殖中心, Shun Tong rainbow trout farm center) near the Wo Fo Shan Zhuang (Wofo Mountain Villa). From there you can take a relatively easy (but long) trail up the south side of the mountain to Jiankou, or a more difficult (and longer) trail to Zhengbeilou tower. See this page for details.

The Jiankou Great Wall is accessed from the north side via Xi Zha Zi village. From Huairou you can take a bus or a taxi. The road goes across the Great Wall at Lianhuachi and then heads north and then west to Xizhazi. It’s about a 70-minute ride from the Huairou urban area.

Condition

Many parts of the Jiankou Great Wall are in very good condition, while some other parts are very badly deteriorated. The most commonly climbed areas are in good condition. Once you go north along the outer Wall from the Beijing Knot, the condition begins to worsen.

Description

If you want to see Jiankou, I highly recommend you go to Xizhazi village rather than accessing it from the south side. If you access Jiankou from the south, it’s a pretty long and steep climb and you will arrive at the lowest point of this area of the Wall. From there you can’t safely go too far to the east, so following the Great Wall you only have the choice of going to the west. The other choice you have is to proceed down the other side of the mountain, and then you will be in Xizhazi anyway. It’s much easier to start there and you get a lot more options. I believe that the best destinations at Jiankou are Zhengbeilou (sharp north tower) or Jiuyanlou (nine eyed tower). Zhengbeilou will be to your east and therefore you must walk down to the road and bypass the very dangerous section of Jiankou (see the middle part of this video, starting about one minute after the beginning), and then back up another trail to get there. Jiuyanlou is to the west, but it’s much too far to walk from the south side of Jiankou along the Great Wall all the way to Jiuyanlou and expect to return the same day. But from Xizhazi you can easily access either place or even both in the same day if you wish.

Jiankou area map (Blue: driving routes, yellow: walking routes, red: Great Wall

Zhengbeilou is possibly the most popular spot for photographers anywhere on any Great Wall. The scenery from here is just fantastic. Looking over the entire Jiankou Great Wall, you are looking to the west, so the lighting at sunrise is ideal. It’s no wonder that you see the traditional image of the Jiankou Great Wall from Zhengbeilou in books, videos, magazines, and calendars everywhere. The elevation of Zhengbeilou is 991 meters (3250 feet).

View of the Jiankou Great Wall from Zhengbeilou

See this page for details on how to reach Zhengbeilou.

From Zhengbeilou, you can hike to the east towards Niujiaobian. It’s not very dangerous or difficult although there are places where you must walk right along the edge of the Wall and the thick brush threatens to push you over the side. There are also steep slopes with loose bricks and stones, as is the case in many places on the Great Wall. At 1029 meters (3375 feet), the top of the hairpin is even higher than Zhengbeilou, and the view from here is also amazing, allowing you to see the entire Mutianyu Great Wall plus much of Jiankou as well. From here you could continue to Mutianyu or return to Zhengbeilou.

From Zhengbeilou, you probably won’t want to hike very far to the west as it becomes quite dangerous. Serious and experienced rock climbers may want to try, especially if they have some climbing equipment, but most would do best to avoid this area. If you want to head west from Zhengbeilou you should take the path back down to the road on the north side, walk west to the next road that goes off to the left (south), and then follow that road to a small parking area to the left, at the end of which there is a path back up to the low point at Jiankou.

Zhengbeilou viewed from the east

From the low point at Jiankou, the place that is accessible to both the north and south approaches, you can hike and climb to the west for a great distance. The next features that you will reach are called Jiangjunshouguan, or General’s Pass, and then Tianti, or Heavenly Ladder. Just west of Jiangjunshouguan you will see a trail to the right (north) that leads to Xizhazi. If you pass this trail, you will reach a very steep and narrow uphill section known as Tianti. After this point, you will reach a tower at the next summit. From here, the Wall originally branched to the left (southeast) as well as continuing to the right (north). But now it’s nearly impossible to see the remains of this Wall here. Continuing on the northern path of the Wall, you will go down for a while and then you are going up another mountain which is quite formidable. It’s known as Yingfeidaoyang or upward flying eagle, because they say it’s higher than eagles fly so they have to fly up to get there. Others say it got its name because its contours resemble an eagle, and while I have heard of many places where mountain coutours are said to resemble tigers, dragons, and more, I usually can’t see it. But from Xizhazi, Yingfeidaoyang really does resemble an eagle with outstretched wings. The summit of Yingfeidaoyang is 954 meters (3130 feet) high.

View of Yingfeidaoyang from Xizhazi

When you near the top of Yingfeidaoyang, there is a trail leading off to the left (southwest) which bypasses the very top of the mountain. You really must take this bypass and do not attempt to climb over the very top of Yingfeidaoyang. I probably don’t need to give this advice as you will see for yourself how dangerous the last stretch up and down would be. The bypass just circumvents the very top of the mountain and rejoins the Wall shortly thereafter.

Rejoining the wall after the Yingfeidaoyang summit and continuing, you will find another path to your right (east) that leads down to Xizhazi. If you continue up to the top of the next mountain, you will reach Beijingjie, or the Beijing Knot, where the inner and outer Walls meet at the summit of a mountain 966 meters (3170 feet) high. The inner Wall, to your left (east) goes to Moyashike (Moshikou) and from there continues to Xiangshuihu, Lianyunling, Huanghuacheng, Zhuangdaokou, Erdaoguan, Xishuiyu, Longquanyu, and beyond. Once you leave Beijingjie in this direction, you are outside of the Jiankou Great Wall and therefore beyond the scope of this review. But you can also head north from here along the outer Wall which eventually leads through Zhangjiakou.

Beijingjie seen from Xizhazi

Going down the Beijingjie mountain and up the next one, you will find at the peak a very deteriorated section of the Wall including a large tower. Like Yingfeidaoyang, this section must also be bypassed and you will find a path leading around its left (west) side and rejoining the wall again soon, just on the far side of another tower. From here, the Wall is highly deteriorated and is basically just a large, long pile of stones, which can be climbed if you are careful. At this point you will also find a path leading off to the left (west) and winding up the mountain. Following the Wall here will take you to my favorite place at Jiankou, the Jiuyanlou tower. This tower has deteriorated a lot but recently enjoyed some repairs. It has not exactly been rebuilt, as it still retains its original appearance, but you will find that the mortar at the base has been replaced some brick pillars have been added on the inside for reinforcement, and some stairs have been added on the backside to enable you to climb up to the roof, which has also been rebuilt.

Jiuyanlou

Jiuyanlou is claimed to be the largest watch tower along the Great Wall. I guess that depends on how "watch tower along the Great Wall" is interpreted, for Zhenbeitai is surely larger, but Jiuyalou is truly massive at 7.8 meters high and 13 meters wide on each side. It originally had nine windows on each side (hence the name, nine-eyed tower). It’s not the highest point on the Great Wall either, but at 1177 meters (3860 feet), it’s the highest point I have ever reached, and the view from here is correspondingly breathtaking. Jiuyanlou has great historical significance and contains several commemorative plaques on its back side to document this.

Overview of the Jiankou Great Wall from Jiuyanlou

From Jiuyanlou, the Great Wall branches both to the north and to the west. The branch to the west is quite overgrown and soon becomes difficult to follow. The branch to the north appears to be relatively accessible at first, but I have not tried to follow it (yet). Looking far in the distance to the north, you can see another tower at the peak of a mountain which is even higher than Jiuyanlou but lower than the neighboring Heituoshan. Regardless, Jiuyanlou represents the end of the Jiankou section of the Great Wall to the west and therefore the end of this review.

[sophie]

Super review! Nice job Bryan. It makes me really want to see the Jiankou great wall. It looks unbelievable. I understand it's dangerous. However. I think I could handle parts of it at least.

[jillise]

Hi Bryan, really neat job you have done here; most grateful. I was wondering - I'm new to this and done very little research yet - if there are any guest houses where one can spend a night or 2 and places to eat around Xizhazi. Your reply will be most appreciated. Thank you. Jose

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by jillise

Hi Bryan, really neat job you have done here; most grateful. I was wondering - I'm new to this and done very little research yet - if there are any guest houses where one can spend a night or 2 and places to eat around Xizhazi. Your reply will be most appreciated. Thank you. Jose

Zhao’s hostel at Xizhazi village is the one I have experience with. There are a few others in the area also.

[China Darren]

"Jiankou is one of the best places for a serious Great Wall enthusiast. It has a wide variety of places to climb. It has terrific scenery and offers great opportunities for photographers. It’s reasonably close to Beijing. And as the eastern meeting point of the inner and outer Ming Walls, it connects to long stretches of Great Wall in three directions.

Zhao’s hostel at Xizhazi village is the one I have experience with."


Hi Bryan. I'm quite interested in visiting this area when I am over in May. I have a few treks arranged with Kim but would like to se as much of 'The Wall' as posible whilst I am in China. In your opinion is it possible to do a day trip here if I was to leave Beijing early enough? If not then I will try the hostel you mention above.

If anyone else on the forum fancies going to Jiankou with me or knows of a good guide I can utilise then please let me know. I'm in Beijing May 6 - May 18. Weekends are already taken with Kim.

Regards

Darren

[Bryan]

A day trip to Jiankou is definitely possible. You could take a taxi or bus to Xizhazi in the morning, climb up to Zhengbeilou and from there to Mutianyu via Niujiaobian. From Mutianyu, you can easily find transportation back to Beijing.

But if you stay overnight, you can visit other parts of Jiankou, like Jiuyanlou, which offers amazing views.

[China Darren]

Cheers for the reply Bryan. I will definately consider the overnight option as well.

[Kim]

If anyone else on the forum fancies going to Jiankou with me or knows of a good guide I can utilise then please let me know.

Depending on the time maybe we could go there together. I would love to see Jiankou but that depends on my schedule at that time.

[China Darren]

Originally Posted by Kim

Depending on the time maybe we could go there together. I would love to see Jiankou but that depends on my schedule at that time.

If you can Kim that will be fantastic.

[PWCCA]

Originally Posted by China Darren

"Jiankou is one of the best places for a serious Great Wall enthusiast. It has a wide variety of places to climb. It has terrific scenery and offers great opportunities for photographers. It’s reasonably close to Beijing. And as the eastern meeting point of the inner and outer Ming Walls, it connects to long stretches of Great Wall in three directions.

Zhao’s hostel at Xizhazi village is the one I have experience with."


Hi Bryan. I'm quite interested in visiting this area when I am over in May. I have a few treks arranged with Kim but would like to se as much of 'The Wall' as posible whilst I am in China. In your opinion is it possible to do a day trip here if I was to leave Beijing early enough? If not then I will try the hostel you mention above.

If anyone else on the forum fancies going to Jiankou with me or knows of a good guide I can utilise then please let me know. I'm in Beijing May 6 - May 18. Weekends are already taken with Kim.

Regards

Darren

*puts hand up*

LOL

I would love to make a return visit to Jiankou.