Badaling and Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Badaling

   Badaling is the part of the Great Wall that most of the world has seen, and for good reason. The Ming dynasty rebuilt and strengthened the wall here in the sixteenth century, at a pass in the mountains northwest of Beijing, to guard the approach to the capital through the Juyong Pass. The wall climbs steeply over the ridges, with watchtowers at intervals, and the view from the top, with the line of stone snaking away over bare hills, is as epic as the photographs suggest. Restored in the 1950s, it was the first section opened to visitors, and later received many foreign leaders, including Richard Nixon in 1972.

   Read the complete Badaling write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Badaling is where the day begins. Next is Ming Tombs.

2. 2. Ming Tombs

   North of Beijing, where the plain meets the first ridges of the Jundu mountains, thirteen emperors of the Ming dynasty lie buried in a broad valley chosen for its perfect feng shui: mountains behind, a gentle slope, water in front. The first to be buried here was the Yongle emperor, the ruler who moved the capital to Beijing and built the Forbidden City in the early fifteenth century; his tomb, Changling, is the largest and best preserved, with a magnificent hall supported by enormous columns of nanmu wood. UNESCO lists them with the other imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

   Read the complete Ming Tombs write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ming Tombs comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Summer Palace.

3. 3. Summer Palace

   The Summer Palace is the Qing court's idea of escaping the city, and even with the modern capital spread out around it, the idea still works. The core is Kunming Lake, a large artificial basin, with Longevity Hill rising from its northern shore and covered in halls, pavilions and the tall Tower of Buddhist Incense. The Qianlong Emperor shaped the garden in the mid eighteenth century, reportedly to celebrate his mother's birthday, and modelled parts of it on the scenery around West Lake in Hangzhou. British and French troops burned it during the Second Opium War in 1860, and the Empress Dowager Cixi rebuilt it later in the century, which is where the famous story comes from that she paid for it with money meant for the navy. The marble boat moored at the lakeshore, which cannot sail, has become the punchline of that tale.

   Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Summer Palace. Next is Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial.

4. 4. Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial

   The Temple of Heaven was where the emperor of China, as Son of Heaven, performed the annual ceremonies of prayer for a good harvest. It was built in the early fifteenth century under the Yongle emperor, the same ruler who raised the Forbidden City, and its layout expresses a view of the cosmos: the altar is round, for heaven, set within a square park, for earth. The great Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, with its triple blue-tiled roof and wooden pillars, rests on a marble terrace and was built without nails.

   Read the complete Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial, about halfway. Next is back through Summer Palace.

5. 5. back through Summer Palace

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Summer Palace sits at 134 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ming Tombs.

6. 6. back through Ming Tombs

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ming Tombs write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Ming Tombs comes up about 173 km into the recorded legs. Next is Badaling.

7. 7. Badaling

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Badaling write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Badaling closes the day.