Introducing the Huanghuacheng Water Great Wall
The Huanghuacheng (Yellow Flower
City) Great Wall is located in Jiuduhe Town, Huairou District, about 70 km
north of downtown Beijing. It is one of the most ruined sections of the Great Wall
in Beijing and a popular place with hikers. Huanghuacheng Great Wall is about 12.4
kilometers long and connects to Badaling Great Wall in the west and Mutianuyu
Great Wall in the east. Huanghuacheng used be an area littered with many
villages in the Yuan Dynasty. Later in the Ming Dynasty it turned into a rich
and prosperous area due to the construction of the Great Wall. The Great Wall at
Huanghuacheng was built from 1404 to 1592 for a total of 188 years. It is grand
and majestic on the steep mountain ridges and it goes along the scenic Haoming
Lake. This part of the Wall has historically been the northern gate of ancient
Beijing City and also the important entrance to Ming Tombs. Later it was
divided into three parts due to the construction of a dam in 1974, because the
lower parts of Wall were submerged by water.
There is a story behind the building
of Huanghuacheng Great Wall. During the Ming Dynasty, General Cai Kai was in
charge of the construction of this section of the Wall. It took many years to
finish the project and when General Cai Kai went to Beijing and reported to the
emperor his accomplishment, he was put to death immediately. Because some
jealous ministers had told Emperor Wanli that General Cai Kai had spent too
much money and the quality of the wall was poor. Later the emperor sent a
trusted minister to check the quality of Cai's Wall. He went back and informed
Emperor Wanli that Huanghuaheng Great Wall was solid with finest workmanship.
Sorry for his hasty in executing Cai, Wanli sent people to build a tomb and memorial
stele in memory of this loyal general. He also wrote two characters “Jin Tang”,
meaning "solid and firm", carved on a huge rock below the wall,
showing the wall was firm and solid. That is why the wall is sometimes called Jintang
Great Wall. There is a lake and a reservoir near the wall. The reservoir is
called Huanghuacheng Reservoir and the lake is called Jintang Lake. Parts of
Huanghuacheng Great Wall were damaged and fell into Jintang Lake after being
bombed during the Sino-Japanese war.