Niangziguan

[Kim]

I had a chance to visit the Great Wall in the eastern part of Shanxi province when I visited Shijiazhuang (Hebei) in the weekend. I was surprised to know that my friend in Shijiazhuang didn't know about the Great Wall only 50 kilometres away, but for a lot of Chinese people The Great Wall is Badaling (probably for a lot of other people as well).

According to my books the wall at Niangziguan is very famous and magnificent, but I'm sorry so say that Niangziguan was a big disappointment. As can be seen in William Lindesay's book Great Wall Revisited the gate tower have been badly restored and changed according to the original design. Furthermore the restored section of the wall looks like something you would find in an amusement park. Unfortunately the traffic in this area is extremely bad so in fear of spending the night in my car in the middle of nowhere I didn't have time to look for remains of the original wall but headed back to the hotel.

On the way back to Shijiazhuang we passed Guguan located at the express way leading to Shijiazhuang. This part of the wall has also been repaired but it looks very nice and the gate tower has a very interesting design. At the end of the repaired section the original wall can still be seen although in bad condition.

Therefore if anyone should find themselves in this part of China I strongly recommend to avoid Niangziguan and visit Guguan instead - it is not very far from Niangziguan and can easily be accessed form the express way.

For GPS coordinates please visit the GPS sub-forum.

[sophie]

Hello there Kim,

It seems that you really get around a lot on the Great Wall of China! That's pretty cool. How far was it from Beijing to Shanxi and how did you get there? Do you think it would be worth visiting from Beijing? My special interests group from our school is going to China in June of this summer. Our primary interest is ancient Chinese architecture.

Thanks.
Sophie

[Kim]

Hi Sophie,

I try my best to see as much of the Great Wall as possible and luckily I have a very understanding and patient wife. I have a Chinese driving licence and my own car so it's very easy for me to visit the different places.

Niangziguan and Guguan is about 5 hours drive from Tangshan where I live, so I guess it's about the same from Beijing. There is also some Great Wall further north in the Shanxi province at Datong (closer to Beijing) but I'm not familiar with that area. However Shanxi is regarded as a very dirty area and I wouldn't recommend you going there unless you er VERY interested in the Great Wall.

To save time I would recommend that you visit the Great Wall in the Beijing area and also in the Hebei area. The problem in Hebei is that it's not very easy to get to these places using public transportation. I Hebei I can warmly recommend to visit Baiyangyu (my favourite place). I'm not sure but I think it's possible to take the train to Qian'an and from there it's a half hour drive - it should be possible to get a public bus from Qian'an. Otherwise a taxi shouldn't be very expensive.

If you are interested in Chinese architecture I can recommend a trip to Chengde - north-east of Beijing in the Hebei province. It has a lot of old temples build in different styles.

[Bryan]

Hi Kim,

I noticed that you mentioned William Lindesay's new book, The Great Wall Revisited. Do you have this book? I did not know that it was available yet; I thought that it was coming out in a few months. Maybe it's available in China but not in the USA.

[Bryan]

Hi Sophie,

I think Kim's suggestion about Chengde is a very good one. And, since you're going to Jinshanling and Simatai, you will be more than half way there from Beijing already since the road from Beijing to Chengde (the Jingcheng Expressway) goes right through Gubeikou, which is right before where you turn off to get to Jinshanling and right after where you turn off to get to Simatai.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Kim

However Shanxi is regarded as a very dirty area and I wouldn't recommend you going there unless you er VERY interested in the Great Wall.

good point

[Kim]

Originally Posted by greatwallforum

Hi Kim,

I noticed that you mentioned William Lindesay's new book, The Great Wall Revisited. Do you have this book? I did not know that it was available yet; I thought that it was coming out in a few months. Maybe it's available in China but not in the USA.

I got the book in Beijing last month. It looks very interesting but I have not had time to read it yet. According to his website it is only available in China. A bit strange since the book seems to be a must have for any Great Wall enthusiast.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Kim

I got the book in Beijing last month. It looks very interesting but I have not had time to read it yet. According to his website it is only available in China. A bit strange since the book seems to be a must have for any Great Wall enthusiast.

Wow, you get books months before they appear in the USA, you get GPS receivers with far better maps than available anywhere else . . . must be nice to live in the middle kingdom!

[sophie]

Thanks for your help Kim and Bryan. We are looking into Chengde and so far it looks very useful. We have time to go there. I will send another message before we leave to tell you what we decide.