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Mungo Walk the Walls of China Tour

Walk with an experienced NPWS Aboriginal Discovery guide back in time on the famous Walls of China. Learn about the 40,000-plus years of Aboriginal cultural history of Lake Mungo and the Traditional Owners.

You will be welcomed to Country and engage in a cultural experience unique to the Mungo landscape, offered by Aboriginal NPWS guides.

Access to the Walls of China is by guided tour only.

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Great Wall of China Tours 2024/2025

Discover the walls alongside expert local guides, exploring them in the best possible ways

Enjoying a picnic with beer while hiking the Great Wall of China, camping inside a beacon tower in a wild, original Wall, or discovering many historical stories from a Great Wall expert — our Great Wall of China tours give you all the routes into unlocking the country’s top highlight.

One of the world’s most outstanding man-made marvels, the Great Wall enchants with unique historical significance, natural beauty, and a unique mix of activities: sightseeing, hiking, camping, helicopter, night tours… It’s the perfect destination for history lovers who want an interesting and immersive history experience, or couples on the hunt for an incredibly romantic adventure. The Great Wall of China also welcomes families/school students with exciting, educational programs.

Discover the very best of this timeless sight in your way with us, whether you are traveling solo and seeking a group tour, or you want to create a Great Wall trip based on your requirements – with tailored experience.

Best Great Wall of China Tours from Beijing

For your Great Wall of China tour around Beijing, we’ve curated private/group trips to the best parts of the Great Wall. You can walk the Wall as the ancient Chinese generals and soldiers once did, look into the distance from the beacon towers, and hear their stories. Starting from Beijing, the multi-day China tours combine the Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, and other iconic attractions in China.

Forbidden City and Mutianyu Great Wall Day Tour

Experience majestic Forbidden City and Great Wall in one day from Beijing, immerse yourself in incredible history and culture.

Half Day Mutianyu Great Wall Private Tour

This half-day Great Wall tour is a fantastic way to explore the grandeur of this amzing cultural heritage of China. No shopping.

4 Days Private Beijing Tour to Mutianyu Great Wall

One of the most popular Beijing Great Wall tour: explore Mutianyu, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Place…

3 Days Highlights Beijing Tour with the Great Wall

This amazing 3-day Great Wall of China tour has been well-designed for explorers and culture lovers to take in the unique heritage of Beijing.

10 days Great Wall of china and Terracotta Warriors Tour

This China Great Wall tour Beijing to Xian Guilin and Shanghai blends cultural highlights and natural wonders of the country.

13 Days Great Wall of China and Zhangjiajie Avatar Tour

Venturing into 13-day small group China tour that encapsulates within itself the Great Wall, Terracotta Army, Li River Cruise and Avatar hallelujah mountains

China Great Wall Hiking and Camping Tours

Looking for something more exciting? Hike to the tourist-free Great Wall, enjoy a sleepover within an authentic beacon tower under a starry sky, and watch the sun sets/rises. We’ve highlighted a few examples of Great Wall hiking and Camping tour. All the trips, of course, can be customized to meet your needs.

2 Days Wild Great Wall Trekking & Camping Adventure

Hike the Great Wall of China from Gubeikou to Jinshanling, taking in captivating natural views, and experience unique overnight camping.

One-Day Jiankou to Mutianyu Great Wall Hiking Tour

Explore the most beautiful section of the Great Wall by hiking. Never miss the perfect photography opportunities.

Badaling Hiking with 15 Minutes Helicopter Tour

Experience 3 hours’ Great Wall hiking and a panoramic view of the magnificent Badaling with a  helicopter.

1-day Beijing Group Tour to Gubei Water Town and Simatai Great Wall

Enjoy a leisure visit of Gubei Water Town, then hike Simatai, a wild and unrepaired Great Wall. We can also offer a private Simatai Great Wall night tour.

See real Great Wall of China Tours reviews from our clients on Trip Advisor

5(out of 5)

Popular Great Wall of China Group Tours

Our China Great Wall join-in tours are crafted for those who want to discover the cultural essence of Great Wall at a lower price. Unbeatable value is promised.

1-day Mutianyu Great Wall Group Tour

Recommended for international travelers to visit a less-touristy Great Wall. No shopping.

1-day Jinshanling Great Wall Hiking Group Tour

Hike Jinshanling, the most scenic Great Wall, with endless photo chances.

1 Day Forbidden City & Mutianyu Great Wall Bus Tour

This trip combines two must-see sights in Beijing: Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

4 Days Beijing Small Group Tour with Jinshanling Great Wall

Make new friends, and visit all the famous cultural sights in Beijing.

5 Days Beijing Group Tour with Badaling Great Wall

Follow your local expert guide to discover the glorious past Beijing.

5 Days Beijing Group Tour with Mutianyu Great Wall

All the best highlights of Beijing are included in this guided tour.

4 Days Beijing Group Tour with Panda House

Enjoy a cheap price to explore the cultural Beijing city and see pandas at Beijing Zoo.

Suggested Great Wall of China Layover Tours

Are you looking for a Great Wall tour from Beijing airport or Tianjin Cruise Port? Make sure you don’t miss below itineraries.

1 Day Mutianyu Great Wall Hiking Tour

You will be led by an expert guide to freely hike on the Great Wall and enjoy amazing views.

1 Day Mutianyu Great Wall & Ming Tomb Tour

This is a classic tour blending the Great Wall and Changling Tomb.

3 Full Days Beijing Classic Tour from Tianjin Cruise Port

Transfer from Tianjin Port to Beijing, to visit the Great Wall, Forbidden City, hutong…

Half Day Badaling Great Wall Tour

Experience the essence of the Great wall of China with a half-day trip.

Virtual Tour of the Great Wall of China

Great wall of China virtual tour was very popular during the COVID-19 epidemic. But now, it is time to see the Great Wall in person! Before your trip, enjoy yourself this video tour.

Private China Tours including the Great Wall

13 Days China tour of Beijing Xian Hangzhou Huangshan Shanghai

The Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, West Lake, Yellow Mountain, the Bund…

9 Days China Cultural Tour of Beijing-Datong-Pingyao-Xi’an

The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Yungang Grottoes, Pingyao Ancient City, Terracotta Army…

8 Days Hong Kong Xian Beijing Highlights Tour

Victoria Peak, Lantau Island, Terracotta Warriors and Horses, the Great Wall…

11 Days China Private Tour: Beijing-Xian-Yangtze River-Shanghai

Luxury Yangtze Cruise, Chinese Kung Fu Show, the Great Wall, Terracotta Army, dumpling dinner…

Travel Guide for the Great Wall of China

Top 10 Sections of the Great Wall of China

With a total length of more than 21,000 kilometers (13,048.8 miles), many of the best Great Wall Sections are located around Beijing.

Camping on the Great Wall of China: Complete Guide

Can you camp on the Great Wall of China? Where is camping allowed on the Great Wall of China? Here are the answers.

Who Built the Great Wall of China and Why?

The Great Wall of China was built over 2,300 years during 9 different dynasties. Get to know who built the Great Wall of China, when it was built, and why.

Juyong Pass - One of the Four Great Passes of the Wall

It was recorded that the name Juyong is known for the living of immigrates of laborers during the Qin Dynasty.

Southern Great Wall of China Travel Guide

Also called the Miaojiang Great Wall, the Southern Great Wall of China is a military defense system built in the Ming and Qing dynasties of China.

20 Interesting Facts about the Great Wall of China

Explore 20 cool facts about the Great Wall, shedding light on its history, construction, cultural importance, and unique features…

Highlights of the Great Wall

Mutianyu great wall.

The most recommended section for international travelers, with spectacular views and fewer tourists

Jinshanling Great Wall

The best part for hiking and photography on the Wall.

Simatai Great Wall

A night tour on Simatai is a unique and exhilarating experience

Badaling Great Wall

Built in the Ming Dynasty, spanning for 12 kilometers, Badaling is the best preserved section of the Great Wall of China.

Huanghuacheng Great Wall

The Lakeside Huanghuacheng is the only waterway Great Wall, and suitable for hiking and camping

FAQs on Great Wall of China Tours

All sections of the Great Wall near Beijing can be visited all year. However, the spring months (April to June) and Fall (September to early November) are considered the best times. During these months, the temperatures are usually comfortable, and the landscape is at its most beautiful time with blossoming flowers or fall foliage. Spring and autumn are also are great for hiking and climbing.

You are not suggested hike the Great Wall in summer (July and August), when is hot and humid. Additionally, you should avoid hiking in winter (December to February), when it is extremely cold and very windy.

Avoiding traveling during the public China holidays, including:

• May Day Holiday: May 1 to May 5
• National Day Holiday: October 1 to October 7

In addition, you can also expect more tourists during the summer vacation from July to August.

The fully repaired Mutianyu  is the best section to visit for foreign travelers who want an easy walk. The cable car ride can help to save your time and strength, also making it the best choice for a day trip or layover tour. What’s more, Mutianyu is highly recommended to families , as the Great Wall toboggan is available for kids to enjoy a fun and exciting ride downhill.

Jinshanling (half-restored), and Jinkou (partly-repaired)  are top recommendations if you plan to have a moderate to challenging hike on the Wall. Besides, Jinshanling is the best section for a Great Wall photography tour.

Simatai (wild) and Gubeikou (wild)  haven’t been restored yet and still remain the ruins of the Great Wall from ancient times. So you can take the chances to see the original Wall. Additionally, Simatai is the only section for a Great Wall night tour as it is lit up at night. Trekking Simatai and Gubeikou and camping in an original watchtower will be an unforgettable experience.

Badaling and Juyongguan are partly wheelchair accessible , thus recommended for visitors traveling with a wheelchair.

• Half day or one day for sightseeing with/without an easy walk
• Normally 2 to 5 days for Great Wall hiking, trekking and camping

It costs about US$130 to US$250 per person for a private Great Wall tour based on the number of people in your group and the traveling days. It can be as low as US$60 to US$80 if you take a join-in tour.

Generally speaking, it is safe to walk Mutainyu. But watch your step when hiking the partly-repaired or wild Wall, especially Jiankou, the steepest section.  

There are very good Chinese restaurants near the Wall, such as The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu, Xiaolongpu Resort under the foot of Mutianyu, Commune by the Great Wall and Beijing Roast Duck near Badaling. You can also find some vendors selling snacks and bottles of water on Mutianyu and Badaling. You are suggested to bring food and drinks when hiking the Wall.

Why You’ll Enjoy China Xian Tour

1-on-1 Travel Consultant

Whether you travel with a group tour or tailor-make a private China tour, you’ll receive 1-1 help from a travel expert, who will give you professional advice based on deep and personal knowledge of the destinations.

Expert Local Guides

Get insider access by traveling with a local in each destination. They have firsthand knowledge about local families, where to eat and drink, and the best places for local culture and art. You can trust your guides like friends.

Authentic Travel Experiences

We’ve been creating tens of thousands of China trips for over 20 years. We’ll make your dream China adventure come true by combining China highlights with hidden gems. Beyond just well-known attractions, there will be more.

Flexible Change and Cancellation

You can travel easy with our flexible booking and cancellation policies, in case something unexpected arises or if your China tour itinerary needs to be changed. Your travel consultant is available 24/7 to support your booking.

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Mungo is only 1½ hours from Mildura

• Call 03 5029 7297
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Mungo Lodge Sunset Tour

Departs every evening from mungo lodge, 1½ hours before sunset time.

Meet your guide at Mungo Lodge reception for an amazing experience you will never forget, our experienced guides will take you up onto the Wall of China itself and wait for sunset where the sands of time will change colour in the light, great clean light for photography.

Unearth Mungo’s ancient history home of Mungo of Man and Mungo Lady. Chasing the best sunset when there are so many lookouts at Mungo, can feel like a mammoth task but with this tour you get to experience the “best” of all of them.

The journey to the top of the Walls of China, which only allows for better views, and under the guide of an experienced guide into a restricted area of the park you’ll reach your destination for the perfect sunset shot with a stunning 360° sunset view.

Join us for an adventure you’ll never forget in the spectacular internationally renowned World Heritage Mungo National Park one of the world’s most ancient and precious cultural treasures. Our experienced local guides will take you on a journey through this beautiful land in safety, comfort and style.

• Air-conditioned mini van
• Experienced local guides
• Pick up and return from the lodge
• Guided Tour to the Walls of China
• Enjoy our abundant wildlife, with kangaroos, emu’s and birds along the way
• Visit the Mungo Lodge emu’s and other wildlife for great photo opportunities

Easy walking – Duration 2 hours $75.00 per person $37.50 per child

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Great Wall of China

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As China's most famous attraction, the Great Wall of China is an essential stop on all China tours . Commonly considered a wonder of the world, the Great Wall boasts a history of over 2,000 years and stretches more than 3,000 miles across several provinces of northern China, making it one of the most impressive ancient structures on the planet.

Virtual Tour of the Great Wall of China

Want to visit the great wall of china spontaneously with a professional live guide learn more about our guided virtual tour here, best sections to visit.

Beijing is usually considered the main gateway to the Great Wall, since there are several world-famous sections of the Wall in the suburbs of Beijing, including Badaling, Mutianyu, Jinshanling, Juyongguan, Gubeikou, and Jiankou. These sections were built during the Ming dynasty between the 14th and 17th centuries and have been well preserved.

Of all the sections of the Great Wall near Beijing, Badaling is the most famous one. As a result, Badaling is the destination of choice for many large tour groups and is often very crowded. The nearby Juyongguan Great Wall features one of the three great mountain passes of the Great Wall but is almost as crowded as Badaling.

Mutianyu Great Wall is just as close as Badaling and offers wonderful views of the Great Wall and the surrounding hills with far fewer tourists. This section of the Wall also features a thrilling toboggan run that you can ride from the top of the Wall down to the bottom of the hill.

Due to their proximity, Badaling, Juyongguan, and Mutianyu are all doable as a half-day trip from downtown Beijing. We usually recommend Mutianyu over Badaling or Juyongguan , since the massive crowds at the latter two sections can ruin one's experience of this impressive structure.

Further away from Beijing, Jinshanling Great Wall is about 150 km northeast of downtown and it usually takes about two and a half hours to drive there. Despite the longer drive, Jinshanling is among the most stunning sections of the Great Wall. If your itinerary allows for one full day seeing the Great Wall, then we highly recommend a tour to Jinshanling.

Gubeikou and Jiankou can also be visited within a day tour from Beijing . Both sections have not been restored since they were first built in the Ming Dynasty, making them ideal choices for those who want to hike and experience the wild Great Wall. Do be aware that the Jiankou section features very steep and dangerous climbs and is only suitable for experienced hikers.

There are also some other famous sections of the Great Wall within or outside Beijing, such as Huanghuacheng, Simatai, and Shanhaiguan, but we only recommend these if you are visiting the Great Wall for a second time or planning a multi-day, in-depth Great Wall tour.

Great Wall Hiking and Camping

Due to its original purpose as a military defense, almost all sections of Great Wall were built on mountain ranges and thus involve some challenging climbs and uneven stairs, including the well-restored sections. If you are visiting a restored section but hike to the end of the renovated part, you will be able to see the unrestored part of the Great Wall.

For most visitors, Mutianyu and Jinshanling offer good, medium difficulty hikes, while still being very safe. For those looking for a serious hike along wild, unrestored portions of the Wall, we suggest the Jinshanling to Jinshanling East , or Gubeikou to Jinshanling routes. All these routes boast both unrestored and picturesque renovated sections of the Wall. However, please be aware that hikes along wild, unrestored parts of the Great Wall involve many steep climbs and loose bricks, and can be very dangerous in some places. (People can no longer hike through from Jinshanling to Simatai since the route was closed years ago.)

Camping on the Great Wall is usually banned, especially on the renovated sections. If you want to spend a night sleeping on the Great Wall , we can take you to a watchtower on the Gubeikou section of the Great Wall to experience the life of an ancient soldier and catch amazing sunrise/sunset views over the Wall.

Best Time to Visit

For all sections of the Great Wall near Beijing, the spring months (April to June) offer temperate weather and are great for climbing. In late April to early May, many trees begin to blossom, making this a particularly beautiful period to visit the Wall. Fall is also a nice time to visit, as temperatures are usually comfortable. October to early November are particularly picturesque, as the tree leaves on the mountains begin to change color. The winter months, from December to February, are cold and can be windy, but there are usually far fewer tourists on the Wall during these months. July and August are hot and humid, and thus not the best for long hikes. In addition, it's best to avoid hiking on the Wall after rain or snowfall because some parts can get very slippery.

You should also avoid visiting the popular sections, such as Badaling, Juyongguan, and Mutianyu, around National Day (the first week in October) and Spring Festival. August is also a busy time for the Badaling and Juyongguan sections, since students are on summer vacation and many families travel to these famous sections with their kids before the new school year starts. Learn more about how to avoid the crowds when traveling in China .

Great Wall of China Private Tour Packages

• Beijing and the Great Wall Day Tour
• 2 days Beijing highlight tour
• 3 days Beijing tour
• Golden Triangle of China - 9 days Beijing, Xian, Shanghai tour
• The Classic China Tour - 13 days Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Yangshuo, Shanghai tour
• The Ancient Capitals - 5 days Beijing, Xian tour
• Tale of Two Cities - 5 days Beijing, Shanghai tour
• More Great Wall tours...

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• About Mungo National Park
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Let our Mungo Lodge Tour Guides do the thinking and organising for you. Everything is taken care of leaving you free to simply sit back and enjoy the adventure.

Mungo Guided Day Tour

Transfers to and from the Park – Pick up Mildura and Buronga – Departs every weekday

Join us for an adventure you’ll never forget in the spectacular internationally renowned World Heritage Mungo National Park one of the world’s most ancient and precious cultural treasures.

If you’re looking to see as much of Mungo in as little time as possible then this combination is an ideal way to experience the best of the region. This tour has been designed to give our guests an exciting day out into Outback Australia and access to secluded, otherwise inaccessible areas of the World Heritage Mungo National Park, home of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady.

All included: –

Pick up from Mildura Information Centre 9am (March-November) or 8am (December-February), Mildura Grand Hotel. Travel by coach to Mungo Lodge. Arrive at Mungo Lodge for morning tea (scones, jam & cream). Guided tour to the Mungo walls of china, Mungo woolshed and Mungo visitors centre. Delicious lunch at the Mungo Lodge restaurant departure for return transfer to Mildura Visitors Information Centre.

Easy – Duration 6 hours $170.00 per person

Walls of China Morning Guide Tour

Departs every weekday from Mungo Lodge Reception at 10.00 am.

Join us at Mungo Lodge and journey into the Park.

Our local experienced guide will take you on an adventure you will never forget in the spectacular internationally renowned world heritage Mungo National Park. Tour to the visitors centre, historic woolshed, and then on to the Walls of China and into the restricted area. Unearth Mungo’s ancient story, home of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady.

• Experienced local guides

Guided Tour to the Walls of China, Visitor Centre and historic Mungo Woolshed

Easy – Duration 2 hours $59.00 per adult $29.50 per child (5-16)

Mungo Lodge Sunset Tour

Departs every evening from Mungo Lodge

1½ hours before sunset time

Meet your guide at Mungo Lodge reception for an amazing experience you will never forget, our experienced guides will take you up onto the Wall of China itself and wait for sunset where the sands of time will change colour in the light, great clean light for photography.

Unearth Mungo’s ancient history home of Mungo of Man and Mungo Lady. Chasing the best sunset when there are so many lookouts at Mungo, can feel like a mammoth task but with this tour you get to experience the “best” of all of them.

The journey to the top of the Walls of China, which only allows for better views, and under the guide of an experienced guide into a restricted area of the park you’ll reach your destination for the perfect sunset shot with a stunning 360° sunset view.

Join us for an adventure you’ll never forget in the spectacular internationally renowned World Heritage Mungo National Park one of the world’s most ancient and precious cultural treasures. Our experienced local guides will take you on a journey through this beautiful land in safety, comfort and style.

• Pick up and return from the lodge
• Guided Tour to the Walls of China
• Enjoy our abundant wildlife, with kangaroos, emu’s and birds along the way
• Visit the Mungo Lodge emu’s and other wildlife for great photo opportunities

Easy walking – Duration 2 hours $75.00 per person $37.50 per child (5-16)

Unearth Mungo’s Ancient Story

Wander the sands of time with a Mungo Lodge guide into Mungo National Park . Explore the Mungo story and see the ancient dry lake bed and walk the Walls of China where scientists have discovered artefacts of this ancient culture dating back over 50,000 years across the expanses of the last ice age.

This makes Mungo one of the oldest places outside of Africa to have been occupied by modern humans since ancient times. See the footsteps and ancient fire places. See where Mungo Man and Mungo Lady were discovered by Jim Bowler dated to be around 42,000 years old.

Book your Mungo National Park Tour

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NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service

Walls of China viewing platform

Mungo National Park

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The iconic views from wheelchair-accessible Walls of China viewing platform are some of the best in World Heritage-listed Mungo National Park in Outback NSW.

• The weather in this area can be extreme; temperatures in summer frequently rise above 40°C and night time winter temperatures often drop below 0°C.
• This park is in a remote location, please ensure you are thoroughly prepared and tell a family member or friend of your travel plans.
• Roads may be closed due to wet weather, please check the weather before visiting the park.
• There is limited mobile coverage in this park (only Telstra customers have coverage at the viewing platform).

You’ve seen it on a postcard, now come and see it for real. One of the most iconic views in Outback NSW, Walls of China viewing platform is the first stop on the  Mungo Self-guided Drive tour  of Mungo National Park. Located west of the  Mungo Visitor Centre , the wheelchair-accessible lookout offers magnificent views across the famous World Heritage Willandra Lakes region.

A magnificent sight at sunrise or sunset, gaze across at the dramatic formations sculpted by wind and erosion. It’s not just the scenic desert views that will take your breath away; these lunettes harbour vital clues to the evolution of life on earth.

Imbedded deep within the ancient lakebeds, historic relics of early Aboriginal culture have been discovered, believed to be over 36 000 years old. Close your eyes and imagine a fertile land fed by vast lakes, where wombats the size of buffalos grazed during the last ice age.

Take a virtual tour of Walls of China viewing platform captured with  Google Street View Trekker.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Book a Mungo guided tour

Explore Mungo National Park on a guided tour. You can visit the Walls of China on an Aboriginal-guided tour. It’s popular, so book early. There are also multi-day 4WD tours and day tours.

Conservation program:

Mungo National Park joint management program

Protecting and preserving the Aboriginal culture and heritage of Mungo National Park, part of the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage property, is a joint effort. NPWS collaborates with representative elders from three local Aboriginal tribes to help manage this special and ancient place.

General enquiries

• National Parks Contact Centre
• 7am to 7pm daily
• 1300 072 757 (13000 PARKS) for the cost of a local call within Australia excluding mobiles
• [email protected]

Operated by

• Buronga office
• Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 4.30pm.
• 03 5021 8900
• [email protected]
• 4 Melaleuca Street, Buronga NSW 2739
• in Mungo National Park in the Murray-Riverina region

Mungo National Park is always open but may have to close at times due to poor weather or fire danger.

Park entry fees: 

$8 per vehicle per day. Fees are payable through self-registration envelopes outside  Mungo Visitor Centre . Different fees apply for commercial tour operators and vehicles with 8 seats or more.

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Great Wall of China

• Location: north China, East Asia
• Total Length: 21,196.18 kilometers (13,170.70 miles), half of the length of the equator
• Length of Ming Great Wall: 8,851.8 kilometers (5,500.3 miles)
• West End: the First Fire Tower of the Great Wall, in Jiayuguan of Gansu
• East End: Hushan Great Wall, in Dandong of Liaoning
• Course & Coverage: 15 provinces and regions, roughly from east to west – Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang.

• First-time visitors to Beijing: Badaling, or Mutianyu
• Return visitors: Juyongguan, or Simatai (with Gubei Water Town)
• Experienced hikers: Jiankou (wild and dangerous)
• Best sections out of Beijing: Shanhaiguan in Hebei, Jiayuguan in Gansu, Zhenbeitai in Shaanxi

• Huanghuacheng
• Huangyaguan
•   When

•  Best Time to Visit

• best sections – badaling & mutianyu in beijing, • clothing & backpack, • how to plan a day tour to the great wall, book with us:.

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How to Visit the Great Wall of China: Insider Guide (2024)

To get the most from the Great Wall, a must-visit China attraction, you should follow the advice to plan a perfect Great Wall trip:

• 1. Choose the Best Times to Visit
• 2. Select the MOST Suitable Section to Visit
• 3. Learn How to Get to the Great Wall
• 4. Spend a Night at the Great Wall or Maybe Camping
• 5. Consider Having a Guide for Your Great Wall Trip

The Best Times to Visit: Spring and Fall

The best times to visit the Great Wall (around Beijing) are spring and autumn to avoid the summer heat and crowds , and winter freezing conditions .

Spring (April–May) in Beijing's mountains is cool/warm and the green plants and flowers make the Great Wall beautiful.

Fall (September–November) is the best hiking season due to the clear weather, allowing you to see the Great Wall snaking off into the distance. The mountains are blanketed by colors of red, golden, yellow, and brown, which sets off the gray and paler Great Wall colors.

You can also visit the Great Wall in summer and winter if that would suit you better. Summer is peak season and popular sections get crowded . It's hot with bright sunshine and some downpours. Winter is very cold , even icy, on the Great Wall, but there's almost no crowding.

• More on Best Times to Visit the Great Wall and Packing >>>
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Select the MOST Suitable Section to Visit

The Great Wall of China lies mostly on the mountain ridges and crosses 15 provinces. The four most recommended sections are all around Beijing . See the table below to make a simple comparison and decide which section to visit.

• More on The Best 10 Sections/Parts of the Great Wall to Visit >>>

Our recommendations : We do not recommend going to Badaling, because there are always many tourists, which will affect the experience. Mutianyu is one of our recommendations, especially for families with children and the elderly . There are cable cars, and it is relatively flat.

If you prefer less crowded and wilder scenery, then we recommend Jiankou or Jinshanling , which are also good for hiking. The Simatai Great Wall is special as it is the only part that is open at night. If you have more time and want to spend a night at the Great Wall, then Simatai is a good choice . Staying in the Gubei Water Town at the foot of the Simatai Great Wall is very convenient, and you could also enjoy hot springs after visiting.

Recommended Sections for Wheelchair Users

The Great Wall at Badaling, Mutianyu, and Juyongguan is (more) wheelchair-friendly . You could at least see some of the Great Wall near Beijing at the valley-bottom level there.

• At the Badaling section, wheelchair users can get to the first north watchtower by ramps. Wheelchair users should book the elevator service in advance.
• At the Mutianyu section, there is a cable car for wheelchair users ascending the wall and ramps to a platform below the 14th watchtower, from which you can appreciate the beautiful scenery from the Great Wall.
• At Juyongguan , the Great Wall Fortress area in the valley bottom can be navigated by wheelchair.

Otherwise visiting the Great Wall in flatter areas is recommended for wheelchair users, like Shanhaiguan on the east coast and Jiayuguan on the western desert.

Conquer the Most Challenging Great Wall Section: Jiankou to Mutianyu (4–5 hours hike)

If you would like to experience the steepest section , the Great Wall at Jiankou is the best choice for you. This section is wild Great Wall without cable cars or any new steps. Many of the Great Wall stairs are broken or crumbling, which makes this section more dangerous. This most popular hiking route follows the wall down to Mutianyu — a magnificently restored section .

Read more tour details: 1-Day Jiankou to Mutianyu Hiking Tour

See more Great Wall Hiking Tours  

How to Get to the Great Wall (From Beijing)

For some well-restored Great Wall sections, like Badaling and Mutianyu, you have the choice of taking a public or tourist bus, taxi, or even a bullet train (Badaling only).

• More on How to Get to the Great Wall from Beijing >>>

But considering the language barrier, fixed departure time, and inconveniences of catching this public transportation, etc., taking a private transfer service with a spacious car, an English-speaking guide, and a one-stop pickup service would make your trip more enjoyable. If you come all the way to China to see the Great Wall, why settle for a second-rate experience?

While for the wild Great Wall, it's difficult to go there independently . You may consider taking our Great Wall Tours >>>.

Spending a Night at the Great Wall

It takes about 2 hours on average to get to the Great Wall from downtown Beijing. With our private transfers, doing a half-day or one-day Great Wall tour is feasible. If you do not mind changing hotels for a night, an overnight stay near the Great Wall is highly recommended as you could:

• Avoid traffic jams and lining up at the ticket gate.
• Appreciate the Great Wall in the early morning when there are no crowds.
• Enjoy sunset and night views of the Great Wall.

At Simatai — Gubei Water Town Resort

Simatai offers the best Great Wall night experience and a range of 5-star hotels, boutique hotels, and local inns in the nearby Gubei Water Town (1 km or half a mile away).

See our 4-Day Beijing Highlights and Great Wall Night Tour

At Mutianyu — Brickyard Retreat at Mutianyu Great Wall

Brickyard Retreat at Mutianyu Great Wall is reconstructed from a cultural revolution tile factory by Beijing expats. It aims to provide an environmentally sustainable and Western-style countryside hotel.

Highlights: green gardens, original brick rooms, and Great Wall views from the hotel.

At Badaling — Commune by the Great Wall

Commune by the Great Wall is a private collection of modern-architecture boutique hotels , 200m from the Great Wall at 'Water Pass' (Shuiguan).

Highlights: Different designs by accomplished architects. It's not only a hotel to stay in but also an architectural attraction in itself.

Camping on the Great Wall — Be Prepared

Camping is not allowed at popular sections like Mutianyu. Camping would need to be done at the wild sections (e.g. Jiankou, Gubeikou).

Shops/guesthouses near the wild Great Wall are very rural and don't sell camping equipment/supplies. Campers would have to carry tents and everything else needed on the uneven and sometimes steep Great Wall paths, which are very strenuous. Beware trips and sprains, and dehydration. Carry lots of water.

Food at the Great Wall

In restored sections, there are many restaurants and hotels that provide local food and a place for travelers to stay at. Restaurants at the Great Wall may not meet the standards of those in downtown Beijing, but you can try local dishes there.

Wild sections don't have restaurants or hotels, so you need to bring food if you are planning a Great Wall hike.

A Travel Guide is Recommended for a Great Wall Trip

China Highlights provides a tailored itinerary, comfortable air-conditioned transport, and one-to-one tour guiding, if necessary.

In wild sections, there is a real possibility of getting lost without a guide, and getting there on your own would be very difficult.

Also, as the Great Wall is rich in history and culture — far more than just a scenic attraction — you should have a travel guide to explain and relate stories about the Great Wall in context to get the most from your trip.

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Great Wall of China Tours 2024/2025

A Beijing tour is not complete without the Great Wall, but a Beijing tour with only Great Wall is not complete too if you escape other MUST-SEEs and MUST-Dos in Beijing, such as the grandiose imperial sites of Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven, royal garden Summer Palace, Beijing’s traditional living dwellings Hutongs, Peking Roasted Duck, Kungfu show, etc. Here are our Best 4 Great Wall Tour Packages from Beijing, which will not only take you to explore the best sections of Great Wall – beautiful and less-crowded, but also cover those other MUST-SEEs and MUST-Dos.

Jiankou Great Wall is Not Open for Tourists :

The Beijing Great Wall Protection and Management Regulations clearly state that it is prohibited to organize tours or climb sections of the Great Wall that have not been approved for visitation. Violators may be subject to corresponding fines. The Jiankou Great Wall is an unopened section of the Great Wall, and climbing it can cause damage to the structure. This not only hinders the preservation of the Great Wall but also poses significant risks to the safety of visitors. Therefore, we urge everyone not to climb the Jiankou Great Wall. Tourists can visit and hike at well-developed sections of the Great Wall such as Mutianyu, Badaling, and Jinshanling instead.

3 Days Visa-free Beijing Essential including Mutianyu Great Wall

Specially designed for travelers who meet the Visa-free Transit Policy in Beijing. Hike the less-crowded Mutianyu section of Great Wall with other famous Beijing attractions.

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4 Days Most Classic Beijing Tour with Mutianyu Great Wall

Visit the best featured highlights of Beijing and explore the glorious past and present of Beijing in one go, including Great Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, etc.

4 Days Beijing Tour with Wild Great Wall Hiking

Get away from the crowds to the wild great wall sections from Gubeikou to Jinshanling, hop on a Hutong rickshaw to feel the old Beijing life style.

4 Days Beijing Simatai Great Wall Night Tour

Hike the most beautiful section of Great Wall - Jinshanling, and take in the peaceful night view of Simatai Great Wall with round-trip cable cars included.

Top 4 Great Walls Only In-depth Tours

The Great Wall of China is not just a single wall to see, actually it consists of many different sections. To experience its more authentic charms, you are suggested to take an in-depth Great Wall trip which includes more different sections of Great Wall. Usually, you can plan a 2 full days trip starting and finishing at Beijing downtown. Hike 1 or 2 sections of Great Wall each day, and stay overnight at a boutique hotel at the foot of the Great Wall, or camp in a watchtower on the Great Wall. What an adventure it is!

2 Days Wild Great Wall Hiking with Camping Experience

Enjoy a peaceful night during your camping in a watchtower of Gubeikou Section of Great Wall which was the site for over 130 ancient battles.

2 Days Wild Great Wall Scenic Hiking

Jinshanling is the most beautiful section of the Great Wall, while Simatai is said to have all the features of other sections of Great Wall.

2 Days Great Walls Adventure Hiking

Enjoy the contrasts of Great Walls during hikes between the magnificent Mutianyu Great Wall and tranquil Huanghuacheng Lakeside Great Wall.

2 Days Mutianyu and Jinshanling Great Wall Leisure Hiking

Mutianyu offers mightiest views of Great Wall. While Jinshanling Great Wall is featured in wild walls, towers, and famous for sunrise and sunset.

Design Your Own Great Wall Tour Package

If you haven't found your favorite section of Great Wall to visit, or haven't found a trip which suits your plan perfectly, please don't worry. We can help you design your own Great Wall experience according to your interest, time and budget. It's only 2 simple steps to go! You can also learn more about Great Wall of China here .

Choose Your Favorite Section of Great Wall to Go

Most popular among foreign travellers. Strongly recommended for first-timers, families with kids and seniors.

Best for photography and hiking. Recommended to be hiked with Simatai or Gubekou sections of Great Wall.

Simatai section is famous for amazing landscape. It is the only section of Great Wall open in the evening time.

The most dangerous section of Great Wall with a famous hiking route to Jiankou which can be done in 4~5 hours.

Allow tourists to camp for overnight, and take a boat on lake to enjoy Great Wall scenery. Recommended for families.

Completely unrestored section of Great Wall. Best site to camp in a watchtower. Can be hiked with Jinshanling Great Wall.

Fully restored section of Great Wall. Usually visited by big tourists groups and Chinese tourists.

Closest section of Great Wall from Beijing. Reccommended for those having a short layover in Beijing.

The Great Walls You Chose are :

Visit Great Wall with Other Popular Beijing Attractions

Choose your favorite attractions in Beijing below to let our travel experts design a reasonable and valuable Beijing trip for you. Most of these attractions are conveniently located at the central city area. Each sight needs only about 1~2 hours to visit.

Forbidden City

#4 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - the royal palaces for Ming and Qing Dynasties for over 500 years.

Summer Palace

#3 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - the summer resort for the Qing dynasty's royal family.

#41 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - old folk dwellings, and good place for souvenir shopping.

Temple of Heaven

#5 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - the largest building for religious worship in China.

Jingshan Park

#8 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - good location for photography and Forbidden City panoramic view.

798 Art Zone

#10 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - old-fashioned factory, numerous galleries and bookshops & cafes.

#16 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - also known as National Center for the Performing Arts.

Olympic Park

#21 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - modern architecture, where the Bird Nest and Water Cube locate.

Beihai Park

#11 on Tripadvisor - free local park with a white pogoda. Good for a leisure stroll.

Lama Temple

#12 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - A series of beautiful Tibetan-style pavilions.

Chaoyang Theater

#13 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - breathtaking routines of acrobats & gymnasts.

Old Summer Palace

#36 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - beautiful, historical, and not crowded!

Temple of Confucius

#45 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - ancient Chinese academy culture, located at Hutong area.

Back Lakes (Hou Hai)

#47 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - ancient Chinese academy culture, located at Hutong area.

Fragrant Hills

#46 of 1,619 on Tripadvisor - good for summer retreat and autumn red leaves photography.

The Destinations You Chose are :

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Great Wall Tours & Vacations

Mao Zedong said, ‘He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man.'

The Chairman might have been overstating things a tad, but we can say that climbing the Great Wall is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience (unless you happen to climb it twice). Snaking from Manchurian ruins in Liaoning, through Beijing province, and ending in a few wind-scoured remains in the Gobi desert, it’s the undisputed emperor of China landmarks. There are obviously dozens of Great Wall of China tours running out of Beijing (and Shanghai), but our local guides come with a few extra perks. English speaking, expertly trained, and with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Wall and its history – there’s no-one better in the business.

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Great Wall travel FAQs

When is the best time to visit the great wall of china.

This varies a little depending on which section of the Wall you’re due to visit, but generally Spring is a lovely time to visit Beijing.

The weather in March or May is warm and fresh, and you should only need a light jacket to be comfortable on your Great Wall tour. 

Summer (June – August) is the most popular time to visit the Great Wall, but it’s the hottest too: temperatures can average around 86°F, which means sunscreen, sunglasses and a water bottle are trekking must-haves.

Autumn (September – November) is a little cooler, but still a great time to visit.

The real one to avoid is Winter (December – February) where temperatures usually drop below freezing. Most Great Wall tours won’t even run during this time.

What do I pack for the Great Wall of China?

Walking the Great Wall on a China tour requires a basic level of fitness.

You don’t need to be springing from watchtower to watchtower like a mountain goat, but the ability to walk steadily for a few hours is pretty essential.

With that in mind, pack some comfy shoes. Runners or sneakers are a good idea –they’ll support your ankles and knees while navigating uneven stone stairs.

Sunscreen and a hat are a good idea too, especially in Summer when the temperature can really spike.

Bring a small canteen for water (try to avoid buying plastic bottles) and obviously a spare SD card or two for the camera – trust us, they fill up quick here.

What are the toilet facilities like along the Great Wall of China?

There are no toilet facilities along the Great Wall of China once you've moved past the main entrance.

You should use the bathrooms before you start the walk to ensure you feel comfortable and don't have to turn back.

The restrooms may not be stocked with tissue paper or paper towels so bringing that with you is also a good idea. 

How do I get to the Great Wall of China?

The easiest way to get to the Great Wall of China is on one of our China tours; however, if you're intent on visiting by yourself, there are a couple of ways you can get there on your own.

You can hire a private driver for the day that'll pick you up from and drop you off at your accommodation in Beijing, you can catch a range of public transportation options (including taxis) or you can self-drive from Beijing to the Great Wall of China.

I t's important to note that some sections of the wall are only accessible through a group or private tour so keep that in mind when planning out your itinerary. 

Are Intrepid trips accessible for travelers with disabilities?

We are committed to making travel widely  accessible , regardless of ability or disability. We do our best to help you see the world, regardless of physical or mental limitations. 

We are always happy to talk to travelers with disabilities and see if we can help guide them toward the most suitable itinerary for their needs and, where possible, make reasonable adjustments to our itineraries.

Walking the Great Wall of China: Best Routes & Tips

Hiking on the Great Wall of China is one of the Top 100 Travel Adventures in the world. View the list and follow our mission to complete them.

Walking on the Great Wall of China is one of the coolest adventures you can have. Not only is it one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, but it also a fantastic place to blend history, culture and adventure into one.

There are a number of ways to visit the Great Wall of China from Beijing. You can do it on a day trip or independently. These trips simply visit the wall and you will find your time-limited. 

You will also be stuck with the option of only visiting one section. It is also possible to book single day hikes too. This will allow more exploration and a chance to see a bigger section of the wall. 

Alternatively, and the best option, is to book a multi-day, multi-section hike on the wall. This will give you the best overview of the Great Wall of China and a chance to explore sections that have been both restored and left to nature. 

Walking the Great Wall of China

Table of Contents

After our day started in Beijing, we made a stop at the Olympic Park and then headed north of Beijing and into the countryside towards the Jiankou section of the Great Wall of China.

We would be spending the next 3 days on the wall with Great Wall Hiking .

Walking the Great Wall of China: Jiankou to Mutianyu

This section of the wall is one of the most rustic areas of the wall because it is in its original state. There has been no restoration or reconstruction, so visiting this section gives you a chance to see the wall in a beautiful historic state.

One of the most beautiful aspects of this wall section is the surrounding landscape. The wall here is literally built on, up and over the mountains in the area.

This makes for some of the most stunning views in China with the extreme contrasts between the green foliage, tall trees, blue sky and brown hue from the Great Wall of China.

Jiankou is not open to general tourism and you cannot visit by using local transport. Our arriving here consisted of pulling into a local farmers village and then hiking for 1 hour through cornfields, forest, and tall grass before reaching the Great Wall.

We used it to set the pace for the day as the last 30 minutes are spent walking uphill on narrow, ungroomed paths.

Upon reaching the wall we paused for a moment to take in the site. You really can’t grasp the size of the wall in photos, so when you first arrive it can be overwhelming.

The wall powers up above the trees and grass at the bottom where we arrived on the trail. A local man, that has made a living from charging people to use his ladder, dropped a small ladder from the top.

~Touching the wall for the first time on our hike~

Our guide paid our admission and we all climb onto the wall. At this moment we were blown away by the landscape that stretched out before us. The wall moved and stretched with the land that made it hard to spot from a distance. The only noticeable distinction between it and the landscape is its brown color.

Regrouping we entered the nearest tower and got a good look at our track for the day through a decaying and overgrown section of the wall. Already 1.5 hours into our hike, we started off on the wall towards the Mutianyu section.

The hiking path for our first day included hiking for 5 hours and covering 10km. The whole track is nothing short of challenging because hiking on the Great Wall isn’t just a long walk, but a physical endeavor and you climb the mountains and hills that the wall crawls over.

Despite seeing many photos of a smoggy covered wall, we had lucked out with clear skies. Halfway through the hike, we did have some rain clouds move in, but it was refreshing and welcome as it moved many more clouds through and opened the sky to bright blue for the second half of our hike.

I can’t stress enough how lucky we were to have beautiful weather when 2 days prior we were sightseeing in Beijing and the smog was so thick we couldn’t see farther than one or two blocks ahead of us.

~Jiankou Section~

~Overgrown path on the Jiankou Great Wall~

The best part of this hiking section is when Jiankou moves into the Mutianyu section. We first noticed the change when people started to appear in the distance on the Wall.

Shortly after we noticed the people, we started to notice the slow transformation of the wall. It slowly turns from ruins to beautiful restoration right before your eyes.

Unlike Jiankou, the Mutianyu section is open to tourists and is a section that is frequently visited as a day trip from Beijing. The closer we got to the end of the hike the more people we saw, including a variety of Western tourists and locals.

Encountering the crowds really made us appreciate the time we spent hiking Jiankou. Getting off the wall at Mutianyu took us into a tourist park where we noticed several shops where you can find souvenirs, bathrooms, information, and restaurants.

Not even a long day of hiking could make us appreciate the commercialism; we would much prefer to exit into a farmer’s village-like we started.

~The beginning of Mutianyu~

~Resorted section at Mutianyu~

Our day ended with a drive to the Simatai farmers village, where we stayed in a farmer’s guesthouse to rest and relax before our second day of hiking on the Gubeikou section of the Great Wall of China.

Walking the Great Wall of China: Gubeikou to Jinshanling

Despite the fact that our alarm was sounding at 6am, waking up this morning brought an overwhelming sense of accomplishment to us both. We had already completed one full day of hiking the Great Wall of China from Jiankou to Mutianyu, with 10kms in the books.

We quickly dressed and made our way to the lobby for a quick breakfast before hopping in the van and heading to the next hiking section for the day. Our hike today would the longest and toughest route of the 3 days, starting at Gubeikou and ending at Jinshanling.

Much like Jiankou, Gubeikou is another unrestored section of the wall and although they share this trait, there is nothing similar about them.

Where Jiankou moves up and down mountains and literally has trees growing on the wall, Gubeikou runs a slightly flatter track and due to being constructed with different materials, a whole different feel.

~Gubeikou Great Wall~

~Looking out over the Gubeikou Section~

The top of the wall in this section is also growing vegetation, but it is much tamer. Straight down the middle of the wall is a tamped hiking trail the ebbs and flows and the wall makes its way through the countryside.

Many of the watchtowers on this section are decaying and in ruins and as you pass them they whisper their history to you.

In terms of weather, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. We had a slight breeze at our backs and the brightest blue skies we have seen since New Zealand . We had clear visibility in all directions and no hint of smog, fog or rain in sight.

We knew this was incredible luck as we have heard the horror stories and seen the photos of people’s visits to the wall being ruined by smog and poor weather. We couldn’t believe our luck, two days in a row of clear blue skies and perfect visibility.

Halfway through the hike, we encountered a section that is maintained by the army, thus meaning we were not allowed to pass this section. This detour took us off the wall and into the jungles that surround the wall.

This section of the hike takes two hours and led us through some of the most beautiful forests and hidden farm crops we have ever seen.

Occasionally we would pass through areas with abandoned farmhouses that prompted us into many great discussions with our guide about the history of the area and the Great Wall of China itself.

Getting back on the wall was extremely rewarding, as even though it isn’t easy to hike, the jungle trek was challenging and humid. Being back on the wall in the open air was a relief for us all and we marched happily towards our end goal with a brilliant breeze at our backs.

The transformation from Gubeikou to Jinshanling went almost identical to the day before with Jiankou to Mutianyu. The wall slowly transformed before our eyes from ruins to restored and the people became visible in the distance again.

Like Mutianyu, Jinshanling is another section that is open to the public and many people make the trip from Beijing to this section for a visit.

The crowds were much heavier on this section and we weaved through the crowds to the exit point from the wall and into the tourist park. It was 1:30 pm and we already had 6.5 hours of hiking on the books. We were famished and happy to visit one of the restaurants that served up a traditional Chinese meal.

~Last part of Gubeikou~

~View of Jinshanling Section~

We were thankful for an early finish as the China summer heat was in full swing that day and as we left the restaurant we welcomed the air-conditioned comfort of the van on our return to the Simatai farmers village where we would spend the rest of our day relaxing and resting for our third day of hiking.

Walking the Great Wall of China: Jinshanling to Simatai

Considering our good weather luck, we decided that our trip to the Great Wall would not be complete without catching a sunrise. The prospect of viewing the sunrise up over the mountains and illuminate the Great Wall of China was something I had always wanted to witness.

Despite the early finish we had on day 2, 4 AM came really quick and our bodies were finally feeling the work from the first two days of hiking. We crawled out of bed, packed up our stuff and headed out to the van for our final day with Great Wall Hiking.

The van ride was short and we arrived at a deserted tourist park. It was soon apparent that we wouldn’t be entering the wall through the conventional entrance used by the tourists, we would be detouring off into the woods and hiking off to the side to enter the wall at the Jinshanling Sifang Terrace.

This hiking detour lasted around 40 minutes before we were standing next to the wall and then climbing up onto the tower to set up camp for viewing the sunrise and eating breakfast.

Our guide had prepared and packed us a brilliant breakfast, who can say they’ve had breakfast on the Great Wall of China while watching the sunrise?

The day didn’t disappoint us and put on a brilliant show of light with bright, clear skies and after watching the sunrise we headed off to complete the duration of our third hiking day at Jinshanling.

This section of the wall is probably the second most visited behind the Badaling section that is near Beijing. That is mostly in part to the beauty of the restoration in this section.

It is completely restored to give you a complete feel for what it was like on the wall during its glory days.

Of all the sections, this is the most photographed part and if you happen to be flipping through a travel magazine or a book that talks about the Great Wall of China, chances are you are looking at photos of Jinshanling.

This made for a more crowded hike than the previous two days as many other people were visiting this section of the wall that morning.

Don’t get me wrong; even though we saw other people during the entire duration of the hike, it was far from crowded as we hiked from the busiest part at the tourist park towards a different area.

Despite it being a restored section, with good footing, it was one of the more challenging areas of the wall to hike. There are many inclines in this section that are very steep and even with good footing, this section is very tiring to pass through.

However, the steep inclines were rewarded when you reached the top and turned around looking out over the area you just climbed and then out into the great wide open where the wall continued to crawl across the countryside.

When we finally reached our ending point, which is the Jinshanling tower on the highest peak, it was hard not to be reflective. We just spent three days hiking on one of man’s greatest creations on Earth.

We had three days of amazing weather and intense muscle burn and even more gripping photo opportunities.

More on China:

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Lina is an award-winning photographer and writer that has been exploring the world since 2001. She has traveled to 100 countries on all 7 continents. Member: SATW, NATJA, ATTA, ITWA

5 thoughts on “Walking the Great Wall of China: Best Routes & Tips”

I love rustic travels! You see so much more of what the world is really like for those who live/lived there.

Yeap. Mutianyu was beautiful!

Mutianyu is great!! One of my favorite section of the wall.

What a way to see the great wall! We don’t have China on our route, but some day!

Hiking is hands down the best way to see the wall. China is interesting… definitely have to WANT to visit here otherwise it can/would be quite overwhelming. 🙂

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How To Do A Great Wall Of China Half Day Tour From Beijing!

By: Author Catrina McGrail

Posted on Last updated: January 12, 2024

Categories ASIA , CHINA

Even if you’re only in Beijing for one day or a couple of days, it is totally possible (and highly recommended!) to go on a half day trip of The Great Wall of China – whether you want to go on an organised tour or on your own with a taxi.

Walking along The Great Wall is high on many people’s bucket list of places to visit in Asia , and the great thing is that sections of The Great Wall are very close to Beijing.

This makes it very easy to visit in a half-day, and then you have the rest of the day to enjoy some of the other sights in Beijing such as The Temple Of Heaven , The Forbidden City and the Beijing hutongs , or Tiananmen Square.

The Great Wall is truly a breath taking and impressive place to visit. It is, after all – a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, so it’s an absolute must-do when in Beijing!

Here’s all you need to know for a great half day tour of The Great Wall of China from Beijing.

Great Wall of China Half Day Tour From Beijing

Which section of the great wall should you visit.

There are many different sections of The Great Wall close to Beijing that you can walk along, such as Badaling, Mutianyu and Jinshaling.

The Mutianyu section of The Great Wall is the most popular section to visit on a half day trip from Beijing, due to its close proximity, as well as its really well-preserved condition.

It’s also the most authentic part of The Great Wall with over 70% original wall – plus the views are just incredible!

Mutianyu is also popular to visit as there are several fun options to get up and down the wall that you can’t find at other locations!

Therefore, this is the section of The Great Wall that most people visit if they’re coming from Beijing.

How To Get To The Great Wall Mutianyu Section From Beijing

Bus: Opt for a direct bus from Dongzhimen Transportation Hub to Mutianyu. The journey takes approximately 1.5 to 2 hours. The bus fare typically ranges from 16 to 20 RMB one way.

Organised Tour: The tours usually include round-trip transportation, a guide, and entrance fees. Here is one I recommend that leaves your hotel at 7am and drops you back by midday!

Hire A Driver: The quickest and most convenient way  to get to The Great Wall is to hire a driver. That way you’ll spend less time on the road, have more flexibility, and you can leave at whatever time is convenient for you. 

It’s not advisable to just get a taxi one way, as it can be very difficult to get a taxi back, so it’s always best to hire a driver who will wait for you.

It will take almost 1.5 hours to reach Mutianyu from Beijing (around 65 km). The airport is closer to The Great Wall than the centre of Beijing is and it will save you a lot of time in traffic if you stay at an airport hotel.

Best Time to Visit Mutianyu Great Wall:

As this section of The Great Wall of China is so close to Beijing, it is actually the number one thing travellers want to see when they are visiting Beijing – which means of course it does get busy!

For that reason I 100% recommend arriving as early as possible in the morning. That way, you can avoid the crowds, Beijing’s horrendous traffic, and get the best photos without people in – not to mind escape the heat in the summer!

Mutianyu is open from 8am-5pm. By midday it will be absolutely full of people, so try to arrive around opening time if you want a more peaceful experience.

Best Way To Experience The Great Wall Of China Mutianyu Section

• Cable Car Or Chair Lift Up

When you arrive at Mutianyu, you need to get up to the wall from the car park, as the wall is located up in the mountains! As mentioned earlier – there are some fun ways to get up and down the wall.

Opt for the cable car or chair lift to reach The Great Wall – as opposed to climbing up the 1,000 steps to reach the wall!

This will save time and energy, as well as give you a chance to enjoy the scenic views.

Then when you reach the Wall, you can walk for a couple of kilometres along the wall, stopping at the watchtowers to enjoy the views.

It is definitely advisable to take the cable car or slide rail up though, as even when you do get off at The Great Wall there is still a lot of stairs to climb as you walk along the wall and it can be quite strenuous!

A single cable car or chair lift ride costs 100CNY (£11) and a return costs 120CNY (£13.60). My advice is to buy a return for the slide rail.

2. Toboggan Down!

When you’re ready to come back down you can either go by cable car or chair lift again, or the option I definitely recommend if you’re up for it – a toboggan ride!

The toboggan slide takes you all the way down to the car park (1580 metres down) super fast in about 5 minutes and is so fun! Here’s the selfie I got going down the toboggan:

It goes in a zig-zag pattern, is quite steep and it actually goes quite fast too (top speeds can reach 30 km/h)! 

It is not recommended for young children or elderly people, in which case the cable car may be more suitable. 

It costs 60 CNY (£6.80) for the ride down, but if you bought a return for the slide rail you can use that to go down the toboggan!

3. Wear Appropriate Footwear And Clothing:

Wear comfortable shoes you’re happy walking in. I visited in the summer and often go hiking in my sandals, so I was happy walking in them, but you may want to bring more appropriate footwear as there is a lot of climbing and the stairs can often be uneven.

In the summer months it gets very hot so bring layers, suncream, and a hat. It can still get windy sometimes, so bring a light jacket.

If you’ll be visiting in the cooler months of October to May when it gets bitterly cold, make sure to wear appropriate shoes and clothes – especially if it is snowing!

It often snows here in the winter which can sometimes lead to sections of the wall closing, so if you are visiting during this time make sure to check the wall is not closed before you set off.

Overall, a half day trip to The Great Wall of China from Beijing is very doable, and it’s a must visit when you are in the city! 

Prices for Mutianyu Great Wall:

Mutianyu Great Wall admission: 40 CNY Mutianyu Cable Car: 100 CNY single, 120 CNY return. Mutianyu Chair Lift: 100 CNY single, 120 CNY return (can use it on toboggan down). Mutianyu Toboggan: 60 CNY single.

If you buy a return ticket for the chair lift, you can go up on the chair lift and use the same ticket to go down on the toboggan. If you go up on the cable car, you will have to buy a separate ticket for the toboggan.

Like this post  on The Great Wall Of China Half Day Tour From Beijing? Pin it for later! 

Catrina McGrail is a Travel Writer and ex-Flight Attendant based in Sydney, Australia. She has visited 85 countries and lived in several – including Italy, Australia, United Arab Emirates and England. Her work has been featured in a variety of popular travel publications including Fodors, Escape, Australian Traveller and Bear Grylls, as well as several international aviation and travel companies. She only writes about places she has personally visited, and aims to give real, honest advice to help her readers.

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17 Facts About the Great Wall of China You Should Know

The Great Wall of China inspires wonder among its millions of visitors each year. Read on to learn about its unique history and how to visit.

Melanie Lieberman is the senior travel editor at The Points Guy and was an editor at Travel + Leisure.

Like a writhing dragon’s tail, the Great Wall of China snakes its way across China’s northern border. As its name suggests, the Great Wall is an imposing architectural marvel, and it’s often hailed as one of the greatest manmade wonders of the world. The Great Wall of China’s history stretches back more than 2,000 years. Despite its cultural and historic importance, it wasn’t until 1987 that the Great Wall of China was listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

But the Great Wall isn’t even a single wall.

“The first thing to note,” travel expert Stan Godwyn told Travel + Leisure , “is that it’s actually a series of walls and fortifications.”

Godwyn typically arranges for clients to visit one of four main sections — Badaling (the most accessible for travelers of varying mobility), Mutianyu (extremely popular and well-restored), Simatai (a crumbling, rugged stretch of wall), and Jinshanling (for serious hikers).

Want to discover more Great Wall of China facts and bits of history? Read on for our definitive guide to this world wonder and ancient marvel.

Where Is the Great Wall of China?

The Great Wall of China is easily accessible from Beijing, though the massive structure stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east all the way to the city of Jiayuguan, in the country’s northwest. Generally speaking, the Great Wall of China defends the country’s northernmost border. A 2012 archeological survey estimated that the wall (taking into account all the dynasties that had worked on the structure) crosses 15 provinces and extends from Xinjiang, in the northwest, to the border of Korea in the east.

How Long Is the Great Wall of China?

If you were to measure all the sections ever built, some reports suggest the Great Wall of China could be a staggering 13,170 miles long. The most popular (and arguably the most beautiful) section was erected during the Ming dynasty, and runs for 5,500 miles between Hushan to the Jiayuguan Pass. Even if you only take into consideration the main-line length (about 2,150 miles) of the wall — not including branches and spurs — it’s still the record-holding longest wall in the world .

For those wondering how tall the Great Wall of China is, the general answer is that the structure’s height varies considerably, from 15 feet all the way to 39 feet. At its widest point, the wall is 32 feet thick.

When Was the Great Wall of China Built?

It’s hard to say precisely when the Great Wall of China was built, as so many dynasties and rulers contributed to its construction. Some 20 states and dynasties contributed to the construction of the Great Wall of China over the course of millennia. It’s thought that the first lengths of the wall were built as early as 771 B.C.E., though official work didn’t begin until 220 B.C.E., during the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Most of what remains today — that 5,500-mile stretch — was built during the Ming dynasty (between 1368 and 1644).

Why Was the Great Wall of China Built?

Originally built as a wartime defense, the Great Wall of China features many towers and passes. When Emperor Qin Shi Huang first proposed the so-called Long Wall, it was meant to defend the Chinese states against nomadic tribes from the north.

During the Han dynasty, (between 202 B.C.E. and 220 C.E.) the Great Wall was extended to protect the Silk Road trade. The Ming dynasty is known for not only extending the Great Wall, but also repairing and reinforcing existing structures.

How Was the Great Wall of China Built?

Despite its name, the Great Wall is actually a collection of fortifications, some of which run parallel to one another, while others are circular or side walls. There are even portions of the Great Wall that are natural barriers, like rivers or high mountains.

Hundreds of years before any official construction on the Great Wall began, individual Chinese states built fortifications against one another, using mostly earth, wood, and stones. Construction during the Ming dynasty made use of bricks rather than cut stone, which appears largely in the foundation and gateways.

More than a million soldiers, commoners, prisoners, and animals were recruited to help build the wall. Hundreds of thousands of men died while working on the wall, which required them to carry heavy materials on their backs up to the top of the ridgelines. There are rumors that many of the dead were buried in the wall, though to date there's no hard evidence of this.

Much of the work on the oldest sections of the Great Wall were built by hand, though primitive technology — wheel barrows, ropes, basket-and-pulley systems, and horse- or oxen-drawn carts — was also used.

When Is the Best Time to Visit the Great Wall of China?

The most popular times to visit the Great Wall of China are early May or October — but travelers should expect massive crowds during these periods.

“These are major holidays and everyone travels,” explained Godwyn.

Autumn is arguably one of the most popular and beautiful times to visit the Great Wall of China. Weather is comfortable and dry, and the mountains’ foliage is a kaleidoscopic array of hues.

During the winter, the Great Wall of China is blanketed in snow — and the number of tourists will drop dramatically. Winter is Beijing's shoulder season, so you will enjoy serious deals and discounts on hotel rooms and tours. If you do make a winter trip, be prepared for a slippery, windy walk, and pack accordingly.

Can You See the Great Wall of China From Space?

Contrary to popular rumor, you can’t see the Great Wall of China from space with the naked eye. As NASA reported , however, photographs taken from the International Space Station under ideal conditions have depicted sections of the wall.

How Many People Visit the Great Wall of China?

Every year, more than 10 million people flock to the Great Wall of China, making it one of the world’s most popular tourist attractions. The Badaling section sees the most visitors each year. It once received 100,000 visitors in one day.  

How to Plan Your Visit

The Great Wall of China is a perfect day trip for travelers based in Beijing.

“Most clients do one day at the Great Wall as part of a visit to Beijing,” explained Godwyn. “Typically, we have a day of sightseeing in Beijing — then the second day is an excursion to the wall.”

Pick the part of the wall that best suits your needs and interests. Active, confident hikers should venture to Jinshanling, while families may want to stick with the more accessible Mutianyu section (there’s an unforgettable, five-minute toboggan ride from the top of the eastern end to the bottom).

Check specific fees in advance, but expect to pay around 25 to 65 yuan (under $10) for general admission to the Great Wall.

And don’t rush it. Whether you’re visiting the Great Wall of China on a layover or during a longer trip, we recommend spending at least two or three hours exploring the ancient structure.

Getting to the Great Wall From Beijing

The beautiful Ming dynasty portion of the Great Wall is around 50 miles from Beijing. But getting there can be a bit tricky for travelers making the trek solo.

Visitors sticking with public transportation will first need to get to Dongzhimen Station, where you can take an hour-long express bus ride to Huairou Station. Here, you’ll need to transfer to a bus stopping at the Mutianyu Roundabout.

The Airport Express connects directly from the Beijing Capital International Airport to Dongzhimen Station. Subway lines also transfer to Dongzhimen Station from the Beijing West Railway Station and Beijing South Railway Station.

However, one of the most convenient (and exciting) ways to get there is by taking the train to Badaling Great Wall Railway Station, also known as the world's deepest and largest underground high-speed railway station, which was completed in 2019. There are more than 10 pairs of high speed trains that travel between Beijing and Badaling Great Wall Railway Station, running from Beijing North Railway Station or Qinghe Railway Station.

Many travel experts recommend skipping the train and opting for a hired car and a guide. They’ll be able to take you to less popular sections of the wall and can help navigate unexpected hiccups, such as road closures. A car is also the best way to maximize your time.

Great Wall of China Tour Groups

For a private, luxury tour of the Great Wall, book an itinerary with  Imperial Tours . A Beijing day trip with stops at the Forbidden City and less-touristy sections of the Great Wall also includes fine dining experiences. 

If you’d like to hike, but would prefer not to go it alone, consider the four-day Great Wall Hiking Tour with China Odyssey Tours . After a day exploring the highlights of Beijing (Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven, etc.) you’ll begin a moderate hike from the Jiankou section to Mutianyu.

Try TravelStore for a personalized trip to the Great Wall of China, which might include a customized Silk Road itinerary with stops in Jiayuguan, a northern Chinese city with restored wall sections and the last fortress of the Great Wall.

Even if you’re only in China for a layover, there’s still plenty of time to see the Great Wall. Every single day, Beijing Layover Tour offers private and small-group tours of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, ranging from four to five hours in length. You’ll be picked up at arrivals by a tour guide, and transferred back to the airport after the trip. These tours start at $50 for a private visit to the wall.

Hiking the Great Wall

One of the most popular hikes along the Great Wall snakes from the Jiankou section to the Ox Horn at Mutianyu. Here, unrestored sections of wall switch back and forth along steep mountain passes. Hikers should expect to spend up to four hours each way.

Another good hike covers the section from Jinshanling to Simatai West — a challenging route that covers four miles each way, and passes a series of watchtowers.

Or, start at the Gubeikou section of the Great Wall in Gubeikou Town — approximately 90 miles northeast of Beijing. From these quiet, never-repaired stretches of wall, visitors will find unobstructed views of the Yan Mountains before they descend to the Jinshanling section.

The Great Wall of China Dos and Don’ts

Don’t visit the Great Wall during a holiday. The attraction is popular with tourists, but locals love the site as well. Tomb-Sweeping Day in April, for example, sends claustrophobia-inducing crowds to the country’s most famous sites.

Do consider waiting until the late afternoon to visit the Great Wall, when insiders say many of the early morning and afternoon crowds begin to clear out.

Do pack comfortable walking shoes , and plenty of water.

The Great Wall Has Faced Erosion Concerns Over the Years

After centuries defending dynasties, China’s Great Wall has begun to crumble. Entire sections of the wall have been swallowed by weather and time — and that’s to say nothing of the many wars and manmade afflictions. Chinese state-run media has reported that nearly one-third of the walls have already disappeared. It’s not just slow-moving erosion wreaking havoc on the wall — the site has also succumbed to earthquakes and torrential storms.

The Best Restaurant Near the Great Wall of China

One of the most popular places to eat near the Great Wall is  Commune by the Great Wall  — a five-star hotel with a restaurant, Commune Kitchen, that serves Peking duck and other regional Chinese cuisine with a dining room that overlooks the Great Wall. 

Generally speaking, however, food near the Great Wall is quite expensive and not particularly notable. Travelers should consider venturing into the nearby towns for affordable, authentic meals — or waiting until they’ve returned to Beijing for a seat at a top table.

Laws Protecting the Great Wall

It’s not just the immutable forces of weather and time that have destroyed the Great Wall of China. Alarmingly, 30% of the original structure has disappeared, largely because of mankind’s endless meddling.

In 2006, China passed the Great Wall Protection Ordinance, though the country has struggled to enforce any rules or regulations.

Travelers should note that there are fines for taking bricks or other sections of the wall, and that it’s inadvisable to pay locals for access to less-traveled sections, as this puts even more, unregulated parts of the wall at risk of destruction.

Notable Visitors to the Great Wall

In November of 2009, President Barack Obama visited the Great Wall. He famously said the imposing structure puts life in perspective: “Our time here on Earth is not that long, and we better make the best of it.”

President Obama isn’t the only notable world leader or celebrity to visit the Great Wall. Queen Elizabeth II spent time there in the '80s, while famous athletes like Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal have also made visits. Celebrities like Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Jennifer Lawrence have been seen sightseeing at the Great Wall.

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《儒琴中国行》 Ruqin China Travel

Jiankou Great Wall Hiking 2-Day Tour with Countryside Stay

Tour Overview (Tour Code – BGE11):

Embark on the Jiankou Great Wall Hiking 2-Day Tour and experience one of the most rugged and breathtaking sections of the Great Wall near Beijing. On the first day, you will hike the challenging Jiankou Great Wall , known for its steep terrain and stunning views. Afterward, enjoy a peaceful night in a countryside guesthouse nearby.

On the second day, continue your exploration of the Jiankou Great Wall , immersing yourself in the natural beauty and historical significance of this ancient structure. This tour offers a unique blend of adventure and relaxation, providing an unforgettable Great Wall experience.

Day 1: Jiankou Great Wall Hike

• 8:00 AM: Your professional Chinese-speaking tour guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel. Then, enjoy a 2-hour drive to the Jiankou Great Wall. During the journey, your guide will introduce the history and hiking route of the Jiankou Great Wall.

• 10:00 AM: Arrive at the Jiankou Great Wall and begin your hike. This section of the Wall is known for its steep ridges and challenging paths, offering some of the most dramatic views along the entire Great Wall. You will hike through famous sections like “The Eagle Flies Facing Upward,” “Sky Stair,” and “Beijing Knot.”

• 12:30 PM: Enjoy a traditional Chinese lunch at a local farmhouse near the Great Wall. Take some time to rest and recharge before continuing your hike.
• 2:00 PM: Continue exploring more of the Jiankou Great Wall. Your guide will lead you through this untouched section, allowing you to experience the Wall’s raw and rugged beauty.

• 5:00 PM: After the hike, drive to a nearby countryside guesthouse for check-in. Enjoy a delicious dinner featuring local cuisine, and relax in the tranquility of the countryside.

Day 2: Jiankou Great Wall Hike Continues

• 8:00 AM: After a countryside breakfast, resume your hike on the Jiankou Great Wall. Today’s hike will take you deeper into the Wall’s stunning landscapes.

• 10:00 AM: As you hike, your guide will explain the architectural features and defensive significance of this section of the Wall, enhancing your understanding of its historical importance.
• 12:30 PM: Enjoy lunch at another local farmhouse, savoring authentic local dishes.
• 2:00 PM: Complete the final leg of your Jiankou Great Wall hike, taking in panoramic views and capturing memorable photos.

• 4:00 PM: Conclude your hike and drive back to Beijing.
• 6:00 PM: Arrive at your hotel, marking the end of your unforgettable Jiankou Great Wall Hiking 2-Day Tour .

Travel Tips:

• Wear comfortable hiking shoes and clothing suitable for outdoor activities, as the terrain can be steep and uneven.
• Bring sunscreen, a hat, and plenty of water to stay hydrated during the hike.
• Follow your guide’s instructions, especially in challenging sections, to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience.
• Pace yourself according to your fitness level, allowing time to fully appreciate the breathtaking scenery.

Price Information:

Price Includes:

• Professional Chinese-speaking tour guide
• Private air-conditioned vehicle for all transfers (hotel to all sites and back)
• Entrance fees to Jiankou Great Wall
• One night’s accommodation at a countryside guesthouse (including breakfast)
• Chinese lunch and dinner (Day 1), Chinese lunch (Day 2)
• Bottled water throughout the tour
• Travel accident insurance

Price Disclaimer:

• The price is based on a private tour for 2 people. Prices may vary depending on group size and specific requirements.
• The final price will be confirmed upon booking, with adjustments for travel dates, seasons, and additional requests.
• The price does not include personal expenses, additional travel insurance, or gratuities.
• If itinerary changes are necessary due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances, we will notify you promptly to ensure your experience remains enjoyable.

Reservation or Inquiry Form:

If you’re interested in the Jiankou Great Wall Hiking 2-Day Tour or have any questions, please fill out the form below to make a reservation or inquiry. Our travel consultant will contact you within one business day to provide further details and personalized service.

Start your Great Wall adventure with us today!

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Drone food delivery now an option to hungry tourists at the great wall of china.

Hungry tourists scaling the Great Wall of China no longer have to worry about continuing their adventure on an empty stomach.

People hiking the ancient monument can get food delivered to them straight out of the sky thanks to Chinese food delivery giant Meituan.

Meituan announced last week that its new drone service will bring food, drinks and other goods — including medical supplies — to customers at a distant section of the Great Wall of China.

The drone route goes from a nearby hotel rooftop to a watchtower on the southern extension of Badaling, which is the most popular section of the wall, CNN reported .

The extension, which opened last year, experiences hot summer temperatures and there are no commercial facilities — which is where the drones come in.

“Through drones, we can make trips that take 50 minutes on foot in five minutes and deliver heat relief items and emergency supplies to visitors,” Yan Yan, public affairs director of Meituan’s drone business, told state broadcaster CCTV.

Once an order is placed through Meituan, a human worker will pick it up from a nearby store and bring it to the hotel rooftop where it will be weighed and packaged. An operator will attach the order to the drone, which will then fly to the watchtower where another human worker will receive it. Customers will pick up their order from the watchtower worker.

Orders will be taken from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and after that the drones will carry trash to recycling bins.

The drones will be able to carry up to 5lbs per trip and have the ability to fly in moderate wind and rain, Meituan said.

Local state-run Beijing Youth Daily reported that the drone delivery fee will be the same as a regular food delivery fee for Meituan, which is just 4 yuan (56 cents).

This would be Beijing’s first drone service, though it would add to China’s increasingly growing drone delivery business, as the country is the top manufacturer and exporter of civilian consumer drones.

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Tim Walz’s Long Relationship With China Defies Easy Stereotypes

Mr. Walz, the Democrats’ vice-presidential nominee, taught in China and has visited the country around 30 times. But he has also been critical of the Chinese government’s human rights record.

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By Amy Qin and Keith Bradsher

Amy Qin reported from Washington, and Keith Bradsher reported from Foshan, China.

In the summer of 1989, Tim Walz faced a difficult choice.

A newly minted college graduate from small-town Nebraska, he had just turned down a stable, 9-to-5 job offer and moved across the world to teach at a local high school in China. He had made it as far as Hong Kong, just across the Chinese border, when People’s Liberation Army tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square to crush pro-democracy protests.

Rumors were flying about a possible civil war in China. Many foreigners, including most American teachers, had fled the country. Should he go back home or continue his journey into China?

He decided to go in.

“It was my belief at that time that the diplomacy was going to happen on many levels, certainly people to people,” Mr. Walz recalled in 2014 during a congressional hearing marking the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. “The opportunity to be in a Chinese high school at that critical time seemed to me to be really important.”

The one year that Mr. Walz spent teaching English in southern China was the start of what would become a decades-long relationship with the country. As high school teachers in Nebraska and Minnesota, Mr. Walz and his wife, Gwen, regularly led trips to China in the 1990s and early 2000s to introduce students to China’s history and culture. Mr. Walz has said that he has traveled to China some 30 times, including for his honeymoon.

That deep history of engagement with China reflects a lesser-known international dimension of the Democratic vice-presidential candidate. If elected vice president, Mr. Walz would bring to the White House unusually extensive personal experience in China — a history that supporters say could be an asset at a time of volatile relations between Washington and Beijing.

But the campaign has so far made little mention of Mr. Walz’s experience there, even as it has leaned into depictions of the Minnesota governor as an avuncular Midwestern dad, coach and teacher. And it has yet to lay out how Vice President Kamala Harris or Mr. Walz would handle China, which both the Biden and Trump administrations have treated with toughness.

Republicans, by contrast, have already begun to seize on the governor’s personal experience in China to accuse him of being soft on a country that is now seen as America’s greatest military and economic rival.

Richard Grenell, who served as ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration, said on X that “Communist China” was “very happy” with Ms. Harris’s choice of Mr. Walz as her running mate. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said that Mr. Walz owed “the American people an explanation about his unusual, 35-year relationship with Communist China.”

A spokesman for Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz’s campaign accused Republicans of “twisting basic facts” and “desperately lying” to distract from former President Donald J. Trump’s agenda.

“Throughout his career, Governor Walz has stood up to the CCP, fought for human rights and democracy, and always put American jobs and manufacturing first,” said James Singer, the spokesman, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. “Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will ensure we win the competition with China, and will always stand up for our values and interests in the face of China’s threats.”

Mr. Walz’s record in the House, from 2007 to 2019, showed a lawmaker who often drew on his personal experience in the country to lay out sharp critiques of China’s human rights record. He took a special interest in Tibet and Hong Kong, meeting with both the Dalai Lama and Joshua Wong, a prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist.

An adventure

Years before Mr. Walz became an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, he was a wide-eyed college graduate eager to learn more about the world beyond the farms and ranches of Nebraska.

Mr. Walz was 25 when he arrived at Foshan No. 1 High School in southern China, near Hong Kong, as part of the WorldTeach program, a nonprofit affiliated with Harvard University. The school is in one of Foshan’s oldest neighborhoods, where thick banyan trees dangle aerial roots over sidewalks and streets.

Mr. Walz soon settled into the cocoon of daily life on a small-town campus, even as the chaos of the Tiananmen Square crackdown more than 1,100 miles away rippled across the country. He taught four English and U.S. history classes a day with about 65 students in each class. As one of the first American teachers at the school, he was afforded small luxuries like an air-conditioner and a monthly salary of around $80 — double what the local teachers earned.

Students loved their “big-nosed” teacher, giving him the nickname “Fields of China” because his kindness, they explained to him, was so expansive. For Christmas, some of his students and friends cut down a pine tree, decorated it and brought it to his room.

“No matter how long I live, I’ll never be treated that well again,” Mr. Walz told the Star-Herald in Scottsbluff, Neb., in 1990.

He also took a train up to Beijing and visited Tiananmen Square, where soldiers had fatally shot hundreds, maybe thousands, of protesters and bystanders not long before.

Upon his return to Nebraska in 1990, he told the Star-Herald that going to China was “one of the best things” he had ever done. But he said he also felt that the Chinese people had been mistreated and cheated by their government for years.

“If they had the proper leadership, there are no limits on what they could accomplish,” Mr. Walz said at the time. “They are such kind, generous, capable people.”

Returning again and again

By 1994, Mr. Walz had taken a job teaching social studies at Alliance High School in western Nebraska. There, he met and fell in love with a fellow teacher, Gwen Whipple. They married on June 4 — which happened to be the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. He later would say, “There was no doubt I would remember that date.”

Shortly after, they left for a trip that effectively became their honeymoon: a field trip to China with 60 students.

Mr. Walz was determined to share with his students the marvel of discovering the wider world beyond small-town America, according to interviews with four former students and a professor who went on the yearly trips that the Walzes had organized in the 1990s.

The students, most of whom had never traveled abroad, barely spent any time in the classroom. In addition to sightseeing, they met with tai chi masters, practiced their chopstick skills at family-style meals and tried Chinese calligraphy.

On the trip in 1993, Mr. Walz brought the group to meet his former students at Foshan No. 1 High School. One of Mr. Walz’s friends guided them throughout the two-week trip and was so beloved that one of the students, Kyle Lierk, recalled crying when they had to say goodbye.

“It was clear that Tim was able to build the trip around humanity,” recalled Mr. Lierk, now 47.

Shay Armstrong, a former student who went in 1993 and 1994, recalled learning about some of the more disturbing aspects of Chinese Communist Party rule. They were told about the harsh “one-child” policy, under which most couples who had more than one child were forced to pay fines.

While visiting Tiananmen Square, Mr. Walz explained the history of the bloody crackdown and the brutal governance of Mao Zedong, China’s former chairman, she said.

“It wasn’t all bubbles, hearts and rainbows,” recalled Ms. Armstrong, now 46.

The Walzes continued leading the student trips to China even after they moved in 1996 to Mankato, Minn., organizing the visits through a company that they had established called Educational Travel Adventures.

A vocal critic of China

As a congressman, Mr. Walz did not shy away from talking about his experience in China.

But he was also critical of the Chinese government from the start. And over his 12-year tenure in the House, Mr. Walz’s criticisms of China’s human rights record became even sharper, especially as the Chinese government took a more authoritarian turn under Xi Jinping.

Mr. Walz served on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a bipartisan group of lawmakers focused on monitoring and reporting on human rights and the rule of law in China. Transcripts show that other commission members often praised Mr. Walz for his expertise.

“You are a great asset to our commission,” Representative Chris Smith, Republican from New Jersey and then-chairman of the commission, said to Mr. Walz during a 2011 hearing.

Mr. Walz cosponsored a resolution demanding the release of Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident and Nobel laureate. He criticized China’s unfair trade practices and crackdown on rights lawyers and religious groups.

In 2015, Mr. Walz participated in a rare American delegation to Tibet led by Nancy Pelosi, then the House minority leader. The next year, he met with the Dalai Lama in what he later described in a social media post as a “life-changing” lunch.

Jeffrey Ngo, a prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, credited Mr. Walz with being at one point the only House Democrat willing to continue backing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which would compel the U.S. government to impose sanctions on officials responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong.

Mr. Ngo said Mr. Walz’s support helped keep the bill alive at a crucial time until it was eventually passed.

“Walz is perhaps the most solid candidate when it comes to human rights and China on a major-party ticket in recent memory, if not ever,” Mr. Ngo said.

Toward the end of his tenure in Congress, Mr. Walz continued to stress the importance of identifying areas of cooperation with China. But he also began to question the long-held wisdom that opening up trade with China would lead the country to become more open and democratic.

“I certainly was under the illusion that liberalizing trade and openness would have a significant impact on liberalization of personal freedoms,” Mr. Walz said during a congressional hearing in 2016. “I have now seen that is not the case.”

In the decades since Mr. Walz arrived at Foshan, the high school that launched his lifelong interest in China has expanded considerably.

On a visit to the high school on Wednesday, news of Mr. Walz’s ascent to the Democratic ticket drew vastly different reactions.

As students in blue and white uniforms exited the school’s gates, they said that their school’s connection to a suddenly prominent American politician had been the talk of classrooms and online chat rooms.

Meanwhile, a school dean said that the school had no comment on Mr. Walz. And guards at the school gate prevented journalists from entering the grounds to see the campus museum.

Dionne Searcey , Amy Chang Chien , Li You and Alain Delaquérière contributed reporting and research.

An earlier version of this article misstated the last name of the person who took the photograph featuring Mr. Walz and students at the Great Wall of China. She is Jillian Walker, not Jillian Taylor.

How we handle corrections

Amy Qin writes about Asian American communities for The Times. More about Amy Qin

Keith Bradsher is the Beijing bureau chief for The Times. He previously served as bureau chief in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Detroit and as a Washington correspondent. He has lived and reported in mainland China through the pandemic. More about Keith Bradsher

Comer Launches Probe into Governor Walz’s Extensive Engagement with China and CCP Entities

Walz’s connections to China raise questions about possible CCP influence in his decision-making as governor—and should he be elected, as vice president.

WASHINGTON—Today, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is launching an investigation into Minnesota Governor Timothy Walz, Kamala Harris’s recently announced vice-presidential running mate, following reports detailing the Governor’s longstanding connections to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entities and officials. In a letter to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, Chairman Comer is requesting information, documents, and communications related to the CCP-connected entities and officials Governor Walz has engaged and partnered with, as well as any warnings or advice the FBI may have given to Governor Walz about U.S. political figures being targeted by or recruited for CCP influence operations.

“The CCP has sought to destroy the United States through coordinated influence and infiltration campaigns that target every aspect of American life, including our own elected officials. Americans should be deeply concerned that Governor Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential running mate, has a longstanding and cozy relationship with China. Mr. Walz has visited China dozens of times, served as a fellow at a Chinese institution that maintains a devotion to the CCP, and spoke alongside the President of a Chinese organization the State Department exposed as a CCP effort to influence and co-opt local leaders. FBI briefers recently informed the Committee that the Bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force investigates CCP activity that is similar to China’s engagement with Governor Walz. The American people deserve to fully understand how deep Governor Walz’s relationship with China goes,” said Chairman James Comer.

Reporting indicates Governor Walz has concerning ties to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In 1993, according to the Star-Herald, as a teacher, Mr. Walz organized a trip to the PRC with Alliance High School students, where costs were paid by the Chinese government. In 1994, Mr. Walz set up a private company named “Educational Travel Adventures, Inc.,” which coordinated annual student trips to the PRC until 2003 and was led by Mr. Walz himself. The corporation was reportedly dissolved four days after he took congressional office in 2007. Since his first trip to China, Governor Walz has visited the PRC an estimated 30 times. While serving in Congress, Mr. Walz also served as a fellow at the Macau Polytechnic University, a Chinese institution that characterizes itself as having a “long held devotion to and love for the motherland.” Governor Walz spoke alongside the President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, which, a year later, the Department of State exposed as “a Beijing-based organization tasked with co-opting subnational governments,” including efforts “to directly and malignly influence state and local leaders to promote the PRC’s global agenda.”

Read the letter to FBI Director Wray here .

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The Pentagon Is Planning a Drone ‘Hellscape’ to Defend Taiwan

It has become conventional wisdom among the halls of the United States government that China will launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan within the next few years. And when that happens, the US military has a relatively straightforward response in mind: Unleash hell.

Speaking to The Washington Post on the sidelines of the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ annual Shangri-La Dialogue in June, US Indo-Pacific Command chief Navy Admiral Samuel Paparo colorfully described the US military’s contingency plan for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan as flooding the narrow Taiwan Strait between the two countries with swarms of thousands upon thousands of drones, by land, sea, and air, to delay a Chinese attack enough for the US and its allies to muster additional military assets in the region.

“I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities,” Paparo said, “so that I can make their lives utterly miserable for a month, which buys me the time for the rest of everything.”

Cheap, easily weaponizable drones have transformed battlefields from Ukraine to the Middle East in recent years, and the US military is rapidly adapting to this new uncrewed future . While Paparo isn’t the first to invoke the image of a robotic “hellscape” with regards to Taiwan (his predecessor, Admiral John Aquilino had previously used the term in August 2023), his comments offer the most vivid description of the Defense Department’s plan for dealing with Chinese aggression toward the US ally. In recent months, new details have started to draw out the contours of what, exactly, this “hellscape” would look like.

A Great Wall of Drones

China has undertaken a major military buildup ahead of what American defense leaders see as an imminent attempt to annex Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a breakaway province. According to a June analysis from the Center for Strategic & International Studies, the People’s Liberation Army Navy now boasts the largest maritime force on the planet, with 234 warships to the US Navy’s fleet of 219; testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee in March, then-INDOPACOM boss Aquilino stated that the PLA Air Force also now has the largest number of warplanes in the region (not counting uncrewed systems), with designs on soon surpassing the US and Russian air fleets.

While the exact size of the Chinese military’s arsenal of uncrewed vehicles is difficult to estimate , the country has become the leading exporter of armed combat drones around the world over the past decade (along with Turkey), according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. And when it comes to the consumer drones that are converted into weapons of war by soldiers on the front lines, Chinese drone giant Da-Jiang Innovations (better known in the US as DJI) controls three-quarters of that market, according to The Wall Street Journal. While the US and China may appear locked in an military drone arms race , the latter currently possess a significant advantage.

“China has essentially copied all of the large and medium high-altitude drones the US has and produced what amount to cheaper versions of the MQ-9 Reaper or the [RQ-4] Global Hawk,” Stacie Pettyjohn tells WIRED. A senior fellow and director of defense programs at the Center for a New American Security, Pettyjohn is the lead author of the June report “ Swarms Over the Strait ” on the role of drones in a future conflict over Taiwan. “Potentially more concerning is the smaller drones that don’t have to fly as far and can be launched from mainland China, of which the Chinese military has many.”

Simply put, China has a lot of drones and can make a lot more drones quickly, creating a likely advantage during a protracted conflict. “This stands in contrast to American and Taiwanese forces, who do not have large inventories of drones or the right mix of drones to successfully defeat a Chinese invasion,” Pettyjohn and her coauthors write in the CNAS report.

Apart from beefing up Taiwan’s counter-drone defenses, the Pentagon’s “hellscape” plan proposes that the US military make up for this growing gap by producing and deploying what amounts to a massive screen of autonomous drone swarms designed to confound enemy aircraft, provide guidance and targeting to allied missiles, knock out surface warships and landing craft, and generally create enough chaos to blunt (if not fully halt) a Chinese push across the Taiwan Strait. Networked drones will not just strike adversaries but also provide critical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance functions to fill the gaps between satellite imaging and crewed overflights, ostensibly allowing the US and its allies to develop a more complete picture of the battlefield as it evolves.

“A 2020 Rand Corporation report concludes that hundreds of networked, low-cost drones could guide American long-range anti-ship missiles toward a Chinese invasion fleet and would be a key capability needed to defeat China and successfully defend Taiwan,” the CNAS report says. “Similarly, proponents of air denial strategy argue that using ‘sufficiently large numbers of smaller, cheaper weapons,’ including ground-based air defenses and drone swarms, ‘in a distributed way’ would prevent China from gaining air superiority.”

As Pettyjohn points out to WIRED, the concept of Taiwan using densely layered defenses to inflict incredibly high losses on an invading Chinese force isn’t new , with past visions of a “ porcupine strategy ” built on missiles and mines as deterrents to an outright invasion. But the incorporation of massive drone fleets adds a new layer to the fight. Indeed, war games conducted by the US Air Force and defense think tanks like Rand over the past several years have pointed to the critical role drone swarms could play in potentially thwarting an invasion of Taiwan.

According to the CNAS report, this strategy appears to have been sharpened by recent lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where the Ukrainian military has successfully deployed drones against the superiorly numbered and equipped Russian force to disrupt enemy formations, destroy armored vehicles, and even neutralize surface combatants. Look no further than the Black Sea, where Ukrainian forces have managed to destroy 26 Russian vessels and forced Moscow’s vaunted Black Sea Fleet to a safe harbor hundreds of miles away using missiles, kamikaze UAVs, and explosive-laden drone boats.

The CNAS report makes several recommendations for how the Pentagon can best employ drones to defend Taiwan, emphasizing the need to build a “diverse” fleet of UAVs encompassing “a mix of higher-end and cheaper systems” (the large and expensive Reaper versus low-cost single-use kamikaze drones, for example), investing in the development of autonomous drone boats for attacking larger surface warships, and pre-positioning short- and medium-range drones on Taiwan for a rapid, immediate response to a Chinese invasion.

“In addition to acquiring ‘good enough’ long-range drones for target acquisition and strike, the United States should have a smaller number of stealthy drones that can conduct surveillance in highly contested airspace and provide targeting information for standoff missile strikes,” the report says , adding that “affordable kamikaze drones with relatively simple autonomy could overwhelm the Chinese navy’s air defenses and damage or destroy the invasion fleet.”

Engage the Replicator

With a potential invasion looming, the Pentagon has kicked efforts to make its vision of a “hellscape” into high gear. Last August, deputy secretary of defense Kathleen Hicks announced the department’s new Replicator initiative, designed to build and field “attritable autonomous systems”—DOD-speak for disposable, AI-enabled drones—“at scale of multiple thousands, in multiple domains” within the next 18 to 24 months. As of March, the Pentagon had earmarked $1 billion across its fiscal-year 2024 and 2025 budgets for its first round of Replicator systems, as USNI News reported .

Replicator appears to be doing its job already. In May, the Pentagon announced its first tranche of fresh capabilities, which includes the accelerated fielding of more than 1,000 of defense contractor AeroVironment’s Switchblade-600 loitering munitions —a man-portable missile that circles over targets before dive-bombing them at the right moment—in the next year, as well as the procurement of uncrewed “ interceptor ” surface vessels under the department’s new Production-Ready, Inexpensive, Maritime Expeditionary (Prime) effort. According to a DOD solicitation released in January, the Prime drone boats will purportedly be capable of “autonomously transiting hundreds of miles through contested waterspace, loitering in an assigned operating area while monitoring for maritime surface threats, and then sprinting to interdict a noncooperative, maneuvering vessel.” The first Replicator systems were already deployed to the Indo-Pacific, according to Hicks, with some military units training with cheap drones produced under the initiative as of August.

"This is just the beginning," Admiral Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a May statement. "Replicator is helping us jump-start the delivery of critical capabilities at scale.

Replicator isn’t the US military’s only effort to incorporate uncrewed weapons platforms into its formations. The Army has asked for $120.6 million as part of its fiscal-year 2025 budget request for Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (Lasso) semiautonomous loitering munitions to outfit infantry brigade combat teams with the capability. As of April, the Marine Corps has selected three defense contractors (AeroVironment, defense upstart Anduril , and Teledyne FLIR) to compete for a potential $249 million contract to furnish Marines with so-called Organic Precision Fires-Light kamikaze drone swarms (to say nothing of the Corps’ push to acquire Long Range Attack Missile air-launched loitering munition). US Special Operations Command, an early adopter of loitering munitions, now wants to outfit its fleet of aircraft with air-launched systems. And as for the maritime realm, the Marine Corps has been experimenting with uncrewed surface vessels bristling with Uvision Hero-120 kamikaze drone launchers, while the Navy has been eyeing missile-hauling drone boats as potential escorts for transport ships, among other lethal initiatives , after years of experimenting with uncrewed surface vessels as waterborne sensor nodes.

Beyond expanding its arsenal of uncrewed systems, the US is also working to bolster Taiwan’s own drone capabilities. In June, the State Department announced the approval of a $360 million weapons sale to Taipei that included 291 ALTIUS 600M-V kamikaze drones produced by Anduril and 720 Switchblade-300 loitering munitions . As the CNAS report notes, the integration of these one-way attack drones into Taiwanese military formations, when deployed in conjunction with explosive-laden drone boats and anti-ship missiles, could potentially prevent Chinese warships from ever reaching the country’s shores in a similar manner to how Ukrainian forces have denied the Russian military control over the Black Sea.

“Taiwan needs a lot of these systems and needs them quickly to incorporate them into broader tactics and formations” as effectively as the Ukrainians have, Pettyjohn says.

And this is just the beginning: The Taiwanese government plans to procure nearly 1,000 additional AI-enabled attack drones in the next year, according to Taipei Times, with long-standing plans to expand indigenous production of homegrown capabilities to prevent backlogs in weapons transfers from the United States—and, more importantly, ease reliance on Chinese-made commercial off-the-shelf parts . (Although, as Pettyjohn points out, the Taiwanese defense community itself isn’t totally unified around the “hellscape” plan in the first place .)

Access to commercial drones “is where Taiwan is most disadvantaged” because of DJI’s relative dominance of the market, Pettyjohn says, noting that “even if Taiwan had Chinese drones available to them, they would have to hack in to each system to ensure they can’t be tracked by DJI or don’t have similar vulnerabilities.”

“Consider that for most of the first-person-view kamikaze drones used in Ukraine right now, all of those components are sourced from China,” she adds. “Even Ukraine has tried to wean itself off Chinese sources and hasn’t found anything at a comparable price point.”

Mass-Producing Hell

Planning a “hellscape" of hundreds of thousands of drones is one thing, but actually making it a reality is another. An April 2023 assessment from the Rand Corporation indicated that rising demand for weaponized drones would likely “strain” the capacity of the existing US defense industrial base. Similarly, a separate CNAS report from June 2023 argued that the war in Ukraine (and the US government’s role as a major provider of security assistance to Kyiv) has “shed light on serious deficiencies” in the Pentagon’s ability to rapidly scale production of “key weapons” like precision-guided munitions compared to Russia—a problem echoed in the most recent CNAS report’s assessment of the US government’s approach to Taiwan’s defense.

“Ukraine consistently has pioneered new approaches to drone warfare, but Russia has rapidly adapted and scaled drone production in a way that Ukraine cannot match,” the June 2024 CNAS report says . “Technological and tactical innovations are necessary but not sufficient. Mass production of an affordable mix of drones is also needed to support a large and likely protracted conflict.”

The report adds that the US defense industrial based may not be “ currently capable of producing the quantities of drones needed for a war with China.”

Like Russia, China’s autocratic regime has enabled the country’s defense industrial base to rapidly accelerate weapons R&D and production, so far that Beijing is “heavily investing in munitions and acquiring high-end weapons systems and equipment five to six times faster than the United States,” as a March comparison from CSIS put it. By contrast, the US defense industrial ecosystem has over the past several decades consolidated into a handful of large “prime” contractors like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon , a development that threatens to not only stifle innovation but hamstring the production of critical systems needed for the next big war.

“Overall, the US defense industrial ecosystem lacks the capacity, responsiveness, flexibility, and surge capability to meet the US military’s production and war-fighting needs,” the CSIS report says . “Unless there are urgent changes, the United States risks weakening deterrence and undermining its war-fighting capabilities.”

To that end, the latest CNAS report recommends that the Pentagon and Congress work to foster both the commercial and military drone industrial base “to scale production and create surge capacity” to quickly replace drones lost in a future conflict. While the Pentagon has, with regards to Ukraine, relied on multi-year and large-lot procurement programs to source munitions from large “primes” and “[provide] industry with the stability it needs to expand production capacity,” as the 2023 CNAS report put it, the Replicator initiative is explicitly designed to not only further provide that stability to drone makers but also to pull in “nontraditional” defense industry players—startups like Anduril or drone boat maker Saronic, the latter of which recently received $175 million in Series B funding to scale up its manufacturing capacity.

Replicator “provides the commercial sector with a demand signal that allows companies to make investments in building capacity, strengthening both the supply chain and the industrial base,” according to the Defense Innovation Unit, the Pentagon organ responsible for capitalizing on emerging commercial technologies. “Replicator investments incentivize traditional and non-traditional industry players to deliver record volumes of all domain attritable autonomous systems in line with the ambitious schedule set forth by the deputy secretary of defense.”

“It comes down to contracts,” Pettyjohn says. “Where Replicator is potentially most impactful is where the Pentagon buys something they keep for a few years before they get something new for a different mission set so the DOD isn’t keeping a system in their inventory for decades. Establishing those practices, getting those contracts out there, and getting enough money into it so there’s competition and resiliency within industry is really needed to fuel innovation and provide the capabilities that are needed.”

It’s unclear whether the United States will actually be ready to defend Taiwan when the moment arrives; as legendary Prussian military commander Helmuth von Moltke is famously quoted as saying, “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” But with the right preparation, funding, and training (and a little luck), the Pentagon and its Taiwanese partners may end up successfully throwing a wrench in China’s suspected invasion plans by flooding the zone with lethal drones. War is hell , but when the next big conflict in the Indo-Pacific rolls around, the US wants to guarantee that it will be an absolute hellscape—for the Chinese military, at least.

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