Introduction of Scenic
The tourism resources of Baiyangyu Great Wall tourist area are based on the Great Wall, characterized by ecological folk customs, surrounded by mountains and rivers, with natural landscape male, dangerous, beautiful and ancient, and cultural landscape new, beautiful, secluded and elegant.
The Great Wall section in Baiyang Valley, which is known for its magnificent mountains and sheer passes with a length of about 4452 meters, starts at the Da Ao Tower at the conjunction with Dazhuang in the east, and ends at the Laojun Terrace in Sidaogou in the west. The Baiyang Valley section of the Great Wall still remains the original look of Ming Dynasty with zero human touch. There are totally twenty one gate towers on the wall, including six intact ones. They are Da Ao Tower, Kengzi Tower, Head Tower, Tip Tower, Square Tower, and Deity Tower from east to west. The Deity Tower stands out preeminently among all the other towers for its unique architectural style. There are many Great Wall sections in China, but Baiyang Valley section still amazes tourists. This marble section of Great Wall is 1.5KM long and was built by Qi Jiguang. It is still kept in good shape. The foundation is completely built with red marble stones with every stone weighing around 500KG. The Great Wall extends along the ridge marvelously. Therefore it is crowned as a wonder of the Great Wall built in Ming Dynasty.
The Deity Tower was built in 1596 in Ming Dynasty. It is not only a particular watch tower, but a well-designed ancient architecture. Instead of being built on the city wall, it is hung on the outer side of the wall, making it the only one of its kind along the Great Wall. The Deity Tower is more than 33 meters tall, designed in masonry structure with a flush gable roof. Since it’s built on scarcements, the direction of the whole building aligns with the Great Wall. An arch-shaped door is gouged facing the city wall, which is 2.1 meters long, 1.7 meters wide. The door has frames around it and bolts on both sides. A stone plaque, which is 1.04 meters long and 0.35 meters high, is embedded atop the door, with the characters “Shen Wei Lou” (Chinese characters of Deity Tower) inscribed on it. At the upper left corner it writes “by Zhang Shizhong, General of Guerrillas”, and at the lower right corner it writes “at the propitious moment in the summer of 1596, Wanli Reign”.
Situated on the 320-meter-high Tuolong Ridge of Baiyang Valley, the Guanyin Tower was built during the time of the North March by the Emperor Yan in Early Ming Dynasty. Legend has it that the guarding soldiers decided to build a Guanyin Pavilion on the mountain opposite to the Baiyang River in order to seek safety. All the bricks and woods were transported to the site and ready for work. In the next morning, workers found all the materials had been transported to Tuolong Ridge. Therefore, solders knelt down and worshiped to the deities, and the Guanyin Pavilion was built here.
The legend says Baiyang Valley used to be a treasure mountain owned by one goat and two sheep which were gentle and kind-hearted. A nine-eared macaque living in the mountain was their best friend, helping them guard the treasure in the mountain. But a warlock tried to seize the treasure, so the macaque drove him away. Later, the warlock killed the macaque and the goat with hidden weapons. The two sheep sorrowed for their death, hiding in the Hongyang Cave and crying every day. Their tears continuously poured out from rock cracks, hence the name “Sheep Spring”. Since the spring water flows out from rock cracks, it contains a rich content of trace elements, and tastes sweet and delicious as the top-ranking natural mineral water. Visitors to Baiyang Valley must take a sip of the water of Sheep Spring.
Ancient Castle & 200M Ancient Wall
Surrounded by mountains and rivers, the town here started in Ming Dynasty as a village with a river in the east and mountains in the west. Then villagers built a castle with stones and bricks, which is 4.7 meters tall and 1048 meters in perimeter. The castle had an east gate and a south gate (Jinggao Gate), and housed 50 households.
The Marble Great Wall of Baiyang Valley, with a length of 1.5KM, was built by Qi Jiguang in Ming Dynasty and currently still remains intact. The foundation of this Great Wall section is made of red marble stones with each stone weighing around 500kg. They are extending along the ridge, delivering breath-taking views for visitors. Without machinery, it took our ancestors tremendous efforts to pile up those stones so tidily at the steep mountain top! The Marble Great Wall of Baiyang Valley is definitely a miracle along the Great Wall, and a globally-unique treasure left by our ancestors!
In order to defend against enemies, Ming emperors built batteries on the Great Wall along the ridge. Those batteries were used as fortresses along the defense line and equipped with large-caliber cannons to provide fire support. There were three kinds of cannons that were famous in Ming Dynasty: the Breech-loading Swivel Gun, the Crouching Tiger Trebuchet, and the Red Barbarian Cannon. The most famous one, the Red Barbarian Cannon, can have a shooting range of 2 to 4 kilometers. The shells were solid, and therefore devastating enough to kill infantries and penetrate the city wall. The batteries and cannons were important forces in the attack and defense on the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty.
The Baiyang River flows from north to south through the Baiyangyu Village. Every summer, the water level will rise and block the connection between the village to the east bank. That caused inconvenience for tourists who wanted to climb the Great Wall section on the east mountain and enjoy views. To facilitate tourists and villagers heading up to the mountain, the village committee built a chain bridge across the Baiyang River in 1998. On the bridge, tourists can look up at the mind-refreshing mountains and the Great Wall, and look down at the crystal-clear water and swimming fish. Such a joy is able to prolong the lives of tourists, hence the name Life Prolonging Bridge.
In every summer and autumn, a fog belt with a width of 10 to 15 meters floats to the southwest from the mountainside of the west mountain through the pass. This fog zone is like the skirt belt of a fairy floating in the mountains. Local villagers take this fog belt as a weather indicator that can predict rain very accurately. It will surely rain if the fog belt flows from the west mountain to the south and disappear at the Shitizigou Reservoir in the southwest, hence the name “prophetic fog”.
Grinder Watched by Emperor Qianlong
Story has it that when the Emperor Qianlong was having a secret tour in Baiyang Valley, he saw a beautiful woman operating the grinder in the village. The emperor, who had been living a luxury and pampered life, was very curious about this normal farm work. So he stopped and watched it aside. This rural woman, although wearing rough clothes, was beautiful and slim. Inspired by the beauty and diligence of this woman, the emperor plunged into the compilation of the long-known poem named Watch Grinder.
Seven Pine Trees Climbing High
There were seven (now only four) pines on the south mountain of Baiyang Valley, stretching in a line from the mountainside to the top and resembling the “humpback”, hence the name “Seven Pine Trees Climbing High”.
Looking down from the Great Wall, we can see nine mountain ranges around Baiyang Valley like nine dragons playing a ball, which is exactly the towering peak where Guanyin Pavilion is located. So this is called “Nine Dragons Playing Balls”.
In Ming Dynasty, a child prodigy was born in Baiyangyu Village. His name was Gong Jia. This boy was versed in poetry when he was seven. One day, Gong Jia was herding sheep on the mountain, and he saw four out-of-towners with a southern accent standing there, enjoying the view. After active greetings, Gong Jia knew they were all from the Southern China, and they loved traveling and poetry. Gong Jia introduced to them about Baiyang Pass, but they held opposite opinions. They thought the view of Baiyang Valley was a far cry from the south. Gong Jia was not convinced, so he proposed a poetry competition. That suggestion was immediately accepted by all of them. The four guys sat on the ground and gave out the first sentence, and Gong Jia had to complete the whole poem.
Baiyang Valley Great Wall Tourist Area, known as the “South in the North”, is a typical representative of Great Wall in northern China. The Tourist Area is a destination of Great Wall tourism for its original village style and profound culture connotation.
Built inside the ancient castle of Baiyang Valley in Longqing Reign of Ming Dynasty, the Garrison Department used to be the commanding center and military powerhouse along the Great Power. Liu Yingjie, Shi Yangzhao, and Qi Jiguang, who were censors and supervisors of Ming Dynasty, have stationed here, so this place was called “Court of Censors”.
The local residences in Baiyang Valley Great Wall Tourist Area maintain the classic eastern Hebei characters of Ming and Qing dynasties. Built with green tiles and gable-hip roof, they are archaic and charming while maintaining the original folk style. Open the retro wooden door, you will be stunned by the simple Chinese-styled decoration and the primitive fashion as if the time was back to the ancient years. Living here, you will find not only the profound culture connotation, but also the finely-designed casual life. Sit in the yard to enjoy the wild fun of the Great Wall, the blue cloud rising out of the horizon, take a cup of supreme tea, and experience the moment of tranquility.
The City of Diversion on the Baiyang Valley section of the Great Wall is a creation of the local defense system and a unique defense facility on the Great Wall of Ji Town. It is situated at the highest points on both ends of the water pass, making it the perfect place for defense. The City of Diversion covers an area of 3000 square meters, as large as a football field. What was it used for? On one hand, it was used to confuse the enemies who would take it as an important military organ and the commanding center of the Great Wall when looking at it from down the mountain. So they would focus their fire on it but could not conquer it in the short run. On the other hand, the City of Diversion was used to store horses, grains, and soldiers. Anyway, it is highly valuable both for science and appreciation.
Story has it that when the Great Wall was built in Baiyang Pass, bricks were carried up to the mountain by human, so many workers were exhausted and tired to death. Seeing this, an old man took off his belt and tied two bricks on both ends of it. Then he put the belt of the goat. The goat delivered the bricks to the site in no time. The Garrison Leader then immediately ordered to transfer bricks with this method. Goats not only accelerated the construction speed of the Great Wall, but also saved the lives of millions of workers. Therefore, people built this Goat Pavilion at the place where goats patronize to commemorate and extend gratitude to goats in the mountain.
Despite of many kinds of passes, only a few of them were built on water, and fewer still remain. The mountains on both banks of Baiyang River are sheer and steep. The famous general Qi Jiguang of Ming Dynasty who controlled the northern army built the Baiyang Water Pass, at this critical fortress of landway and waterway, to stop the invasion of enemies from the north.
A legend has it that the Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty was fighting against the army of Liao State. But the Liao army drew back in the East Mountain and held firm against the Baiyang River, leaving the Tang army no other options. Then the General Li Jing asked the Divine Turtle for help. The turtle drank up the water, so that the Tang army crossed the river and defeated the Liao army. The turtle was then transformed into a lifelike mountain lying towards north. Therefore, although the Baiyang River brims with water all the year around, the water is seemingly blocked in the section from the turtle eyes to its tail, thus being crowned as a major wonder of the Baiyang Valley.
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Address: Baiyang Valley Village, Dacuizhuang Town, Qian’an City, Hebei Province
