Badaling Water Pass (Shuiguan) Great Wall

Badaling Shuiguan Great Wall is located in the Yanqing District of Beijing, just 1.24 miles away from the Badaling Great Wall. The Shuiguan Great Wall was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). It is the most complete and strongest section of the ten thousand li Great Wall and famous for its precipitous cliffs.

Originally, the wall was part of an ancient military defensive work. The water system was employed to defend against enemies and formed a pass, hence the name 'Shuiguan', when translated is the 'Water Pass'. The wall was built along the mountain contours with stone blocks and grey bricks. There are seven watch towers and one arrow tower. The arrow tower measures 15.63 meters (51 feet) high with an average width of 12 meters (13 yards). The wall was open to the public in 1995 after repair. Besides climbing the wall, you can also visit the Genghis Khan Palace, the Stone Buddha Temple, Luotuo Peak (Camel Peak) and the Great Wall Stele Forest nearby.

Featured Attractions:

Golden Fish Pool: The old site of Golden Fish Pool is located below the roadbed about 50m (55 yards) to the southern mouth of Tanqin Gorge Tunnel. There was once a pond where a big golden fish lived in. According to the folk tale, during the drought days, when the locals stirred the water in the pond, it would immediately begin to rain. It was highly efficacious. At last, the pool was dried and the golden fish was disappeared. In the 1980s, in order to reproduce this beautiful pool, people built a square pool on the old site of it, and moved the stone carvings of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) to the front of the pool.