1 of 2
Freelance writer Edwin Slipek carries a sketchbook to record his impressions of the Great Wall. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
2 of 2
Alex Nyerges, VMFA director, and Cameron Kitchin, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, stand at the top of the Great Wall of China at the fourth tower of the south side at Badaling. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
Climbing to the top of the Great Wall of China at Badaling is the equivalent of 60 flights of stairs. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
Editor’s Note: This is the last in a four-part series by freelance writer Katherine Calos, who has been traveling in China this week with a group of journalists and museum officials to see where the masterpieces in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ current "Terracotta Army" exhibition were created and to talk with curators and archaeologists.
At the top of the Great Wall of China, all things seem possible.
If human hands could complete such an audacious undertaking some 2,000 years ago, then maybe human legs could make it to the top of the section at Badaling near Beijing. And so it happened for most of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' “Terracotta Army” travelers Friday morning on their last day in China.
The group has spent a week exploring the origins of the figures in the museum’s current blockbuster exhibition, “Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China,” and the VMFA’s ongoing collaboration with the Palace Museum in Beijing.
Friday, though, was a day to savor two must-see attractions: the Great Wall and the Summer Palace.
The pagoda at the Summer Palace (Photo by Katherine Calos)
They’re indirectly related to VMFA exhibitions. The emperor who united China in 221 B.C. — the same guy who ordered the construction of the terracotta army — was also involved in building major sections of the Great Wall. In addition, a painting of the imperial family at an earlier summer palace was in the museum's “Forbidden City” exhibition.
The real reason for going, though, was that you can’t leave China without seeing them. The joy of being there in January is that you can see them without having to push through crowds of other visitors.
The Great Wall extends for about 13,000 miles across the north of China. Standing at the fourth tower on the Badaling section near Beijing, we could see it stretching out across the ridges, seemingly endlessly in both directions.
An ice-covered canal at the Summer Palace (Photo by Katherine Calos)
Getting to the top was the challenge. The stairs are uneven, and at times the climb is almost straight up. According to a smartphone pedometer, we did the equivalent of 60 flights of stairs to get there and back.
We were blessed with a sunny day where the cold was tolerable. Each of us had layered on almost everything we brought — long underwear, sweater, windbreaker, top coat, hat, scarf, gloves. Only at the top of the wall did we notice any wind.
In the afternoon, the Summer Palace seemed almost balmy, though the ice on the lake told a different story. It was thick enough for people to be pedaling around on special ice bikes.
Walking and watching was serenity itself. And a beautiful way to say goodbye to a beautiful place.
