Mark Carter: Mountaineers conquer Great Wall of China
Editor's Note: Mark Carter is vice president of Swanson Industries, Inc., a Morgantown-based supplier of hydraulic, machining and plating services. Swanson reached a supplier agreement with a Shanghai company in 2004 and purchased that company in May. This is Carter's eighth trip to China.
BEIJING - The West Virginia trade mission has moved on to Beijing in preparation for the Beijing Coal Show. I am writing this on Sunday, Nov. 4 - a day we took a break to explore the Great Wall of China and Beijing's other major sights. Tonight will be the governor's welcome reception, and the coal show opens on Tuesday morning.
The state development office is busy preparing our booth to represent all of the West Virginia companies that support our coal industry back home.
Our trade delegation, headed by Gov. Joe Manchin and first lady Gayle Manchin, departed our hotel to scale the Great Wall. It was a bright and sunny day, a cool autumn morning here in China. Our bus had a police escort, front and rear. This is the way to travel, the escort clearing the way to make the trip in just over one hour instead of the normal two hours. I really felt like a VIP traveling with this group.
Bataling is about 45 miles from Beijing. It's where you access the Great Wall. When we arrived, we took the cable cars to get to near the top, the upper most section of the wall remaining to be climbed. As we approached the loading station, I decided to surprise my mom and dad in Beckley by calling from my cell phone, to say "Hello from the Great Wall of China." My little surprise was about to get a lot bigger.
As I took my turn and entered the car, I found myself in privileged company - the governor and his wife, the two executive protection officers, and Ellen Cappellanti, another member of the delegation. I began my excited description as the cable car took off. Gov. Manchin asked, "Who is on the cell phone? Let me talk to them." I handed him the cell phone, and he proceeded to describe the views we were seeing and his feelings of being at the Great Wall as we began our ascent to the top.
For everything else, there is MasterCard, but this was priceless. When I got back on the phone with them, as we neared the top, they were amazed, having had a visual tour from the governor of West Virginia of the Great Wall of China. They say they felt like they were on the trip with us.
This is my second trip to the Great Wall, and even after two visits and much research in between, I can tell you there are still many myths and much uncertainty about the true history of the wall.
Is it the only manmade object visible from the moon? Not true. It is visible from space with telescopes about 100 miles up, but not from the moon. But then again, I haven't been to the moon.
Was it built to keep out the Mongols, the Huns, or more as a means of moving the Chinese army over extreme terrain? I think it was built primarily for troop movement over the steep and rocky slopes.
It did take over 2,600 years to build, spans over 4,000 miles, and only about 30 percent remains intact. Much of the wall is in ruins; the remaining is rebuilt for tourists.
No matter what real facts are, it is still one of the Great Wonders of the World.
Next we visited the 2008 Olympics site. In China, the number 8 is considered lucky. The games will open on 08/08/08 at 8 pm. Construction continues at a frantic pace 24/7 with only 278 days until opening. The various stadiums and halls are architectural marvels. I regret to report that the pollution is still very bad. I haven't seen any improvement in the three years I have been visiting here.
Next stop: Tiananmen Square. It is the largest square in the world and can hold 1 million people. The mausoleum of Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of the Peoples Republic of China, stands at one end of the square, the Forbidden City at the other. The student protests and subsequent tragic outcome is still a highly sensitive subject. So much so, it is not mentioned in any published tourist information.
The Forbidden City was home to 14 Chinese emperors throughout the chain of dynasties. It is so named because it was forbidden for anyone other than the emperor and his family to enter. It is under massive restoration as well to prepare for the throngs of Olympic visitors to Beijing.
As we turn our attention to the coal show opening, I will always remember the day the Mountaineers conquered the Great Wall of China.