Christmas on the Great Wall: Hemp Village to Gubeikou

Dec 25 8:00 am -

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¥480 / ¥430 for members / ¥240 for kids

Hike from the tiny settlement of Hemp Village through the hills to the Gubeikou Great Wall. Post-hike Christmas feast and dumpling-making contest!

The starting point for this hike, Hemp Village, is a tiny settlement hidden away at the end of a long valley. In the hills behind Hemp Village is the line of Great Wall that joins Gubeikou and Jinshanling, which we’ll follow through the hills.

Eventually the trail will take us up to the wall, and after a bit of a hill climb we’ll reach the 24-Eyes Tower, the tallest tower of the Gubeikou stretch of Great Wall. It used to be that there were six big windows on each side of the tower, adding up to twenty-four. But during the fighting between the Chinese and Japanese armies in the late '30s, two of the sides of the tower were destroyed by bombing. As well as a few destroyed towers, you can also spot bullet holes in the Great Wall in this area.

From the 24-Eyes Tower we’ll follow the wall to the west, passing through a lot of towers – some in good condition, some tumbled down to foundations only. For most of this last part of the hike we’ll be on the wall, except for a short detour along a trail through a small pine forest.

And then, after we’re all done with the hike, we’ll head to a local restaurant where we’ll have a big (although maybe not so traditional) Christmas feast of Chinese food, washed down with a good amount of beer.

After lunch, we’ll have a dumpling-making contest, with prizes awarded for ‘Most Dumplings’ and ‘Best Dumpling.’ If your dumplings are up to scratch, we may be be able to eat them as well!