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China
Share information and ask questions about accessible travel in China.
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Accessible way to the Great Wall
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Accessible way to the Great Wall
Last month I have been to the Great Wall in Beijing on my wheelchair with my friend. It was really a nice trip!
Before going to the Great Wall, we bought our tickets on the wechat account: 八达岭长城 (Ba da ling chang cheng). We can enjoy the free ticket.
The most accessible way for us to arrive the Great Wall is to travel on the subway, and then on the High-Speed Train. For the situation about Beijing subway, please check the wechat account 创益行（or ask me ^ ^).
In Beijing, Beijing South Station（北京北站）and Qinghe Station（清河站）are the stations that connect subway and the High-Speed Train. I chose to arrive the Qinghe Station. At this station, we asked the staff there to help, so that we could find the accessible elevator and so on. Then we can get to the high-speed train station, it is also wheelchair accessible.
Some of the high-speed trains have barrier-free carriage. Sometimes it is the 4th or 5th carriage, but the most surest way is to have a phone call to ask how to buy a barrier-free ticket while buying the ticket. Some do not have a specific barrier-free carriage, but they might have some carriages that contain a comparatively big place, so that we can sit on our own wheelchair. If you haven’t found the barrier-free ticket, it is more wise to let other people get to the train first. Because at that time, since I was the first one to get on the train, and I couldn’t find the place to park my wheelchair, but there are many people behind me. I had no choice but go straight, let other people sit down, and then I park my wheelchair beside next door. There is enough place for my wheelchair. I arrived at the great wall station 20 minutes later, so it was not a big problem. But if your wheelchair is quite large, please remember to ask if there is some barrier-free carriage while buying the ticket, since the aisle of the normal carriage might be narrow.
There are two ways to get on the great wall. The first one is on cable car (need to buy ticket). When we got there, we see some elderly people on the wheelchair. So the staff at the cable car station is experienced for our situation. I can drive my wheelchair to get in the cable car. My friend on manual wheelchair can move in the cable car too. The cable car will bring us to the half mountain platform, where we can take a picture, since the scenery is good. But we cannot head our way, since the way ahead is full of steps.
And there is a second way to get on the great wall (for free). That is the wheelchair accessible great wall. We can move on our wheelchair. It is not long, so it is a somewhat symbolic experience. In China, there is a saying that, only if you arrive at the great wall, you can become a great man. So this act is aimed to enable us to be great men/women too.
If you are interested in the Great Wall, please feel free to ask me any questions!
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3 Replies
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You certainly are Great Jiahui now! Thank you for sharing this information!
To get on the high speed train, is there a ramp?
If you have any pictures of any of the accessibility etc to add, please share them too!
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Thank you Josh!
We didn’t see the tramp here. But the gap between the train and the platform is not large, and there will be staff helping us. So I just drove my wheelchair and got in.
For the picture of the great wall and the train, I did not take much at that time, but I find some from the Internet. These pictures can reflect the real situation.
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Those are really helpful, thanks!The train looks easy to get on.
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