Reflections at the Great Wall

This is Jasmine posting from Kristi's account.

Today we went to the Great Wall of China. It was really interesting to compare the Great Wall of today to the Great Wall I experienced a few years ago. A few years ago there was less shops and restaurants and buildings overall. The visitors center was built, but it was overall not as developed as it is today. I can't recall if the cable car existed when j last visited the Great Wall, but it does seem relatively new.

On the wall itself, not much has changed. The wall is still majestic and aged, with a view of mountains in all directions, as far as the eye can see. If you peer into the distance, you can see the Great Wall snaking over the ridge of every mountaintop, like a thin gray snake, or a pale ribbon, weaving through the hills. The sky was also a beautiful clear blue, and it wasn't too chilly. The whole affect was quite breathtaking, especially after walking up a steep incline of steps to reach some of the watchtowers. But it was all worth it. 

At the end of the section of the Great Wall we were at, MuTianYu, there was a guard tower, Tower 1. I remember that a few years ago you could exit the tower and walk a few steps before you reached a small arch that led to the unrestored part of the wall. It was blocked off of course, with a sign and wild plants. But now they have completely sealed off the exit to Tower 1 with stone brick, including the windows on that side of the tower. I wonder why they sealed it off, perhaps because people ignored the sign and walked on the unrestored part of the wall anyway? But when we were there we saw other tourists climb out a side window and walk on part of the edge of another unrestored part of the wall anyways, so I am unsure how much of a difference dealing the walk ultimately made.

After we walked on the Great Wall we took little taboggans down a long metal slide to the bottom of the mountain. It had brakes but you could also go pretty fast. It was really fun! Some of us have been calling it the Great Slide of China. It is pretty great.

Overall, even though this is my third time to the Great Wall, it was still a great experience. The views are great and it's pretty cool to think you're on a monument that's hundreds of years old. I think it would be interesting to learn about how the construction of this site of the Great Wall as a tourist site has affected the original village of MuTianYu. The economy of the village has likely been dramatically affected, with now a sizable part of the town employed in relation to tourism for the site. Before the tourism, it was likely the town lived off agriculture (there is a lot of orchards a few miles away) or subsistence farming. I wonder if the tourist industry has dramatically helped the economic conditions for the local people, or just a little bit, or most of the employment employs people from other villages/places. 

I don't know much about economics or the tourist industry however. I suppose one could say this site could be bringing more money into the local area, but does it make their livelihoods too dependent on tourists? Is it a good idea to have economies based so heavily on tourism? Is that even a fair or relevant question to be asking? There are a lot of places economically dependent on tourists after all. Also, is tourism like this culturally sustainable? How does the significance of tourism for a local economy change the local culture of an area?