The 2,000-metre-long Great Wall at Taiping Fortress is constructed
following the contours of the undulating mountain peaks. At places
where the mountains are fairly flat, a round-shaped fortress was built
outside the main wall. The round castle was also used to pen horses
and therefore known as "Horse Pens". There are two different
ways for horses to ascend the wall: go up staircases, or climb up
gentle slopes.
The construction of the towers on the wall varied, both in terms
of design and materials used. Some are square and some round; some
are constructed of rock and some of brick, some are hollow and some
solid. The towers are divided into two types: watch-towers and beacon
towers. The section of the Great Wall at Huangya Pass is the epitome
of the Ming-dynasty Great Wall, being designed with many specific
defence functions in mind.
As the sun sets in the west, a high mountain peak on the eastern
side of the Great Wall at Taiping fortress begin to loom in the
distant sky. This awesome precipitous peak is the famous Half-Vat
Mountain. According to legend, the mountain was the vat used by
the Supreme Patriarch to keep a panacea when he made the pills of
immortality. When the Monkey King, wreaking havoc in Heaven, ate
up the panacea, the Supreme Patriarch roasted him in a furnace for
49 days. But the Monkey King was not burnt. When he came out of
the furnace, he kicked over the furnace in a rage and smashed the
vat. One half of the vat remained in the Heaven, and the other fell
down into the secular world and became the Half-Vat Mountain. At
sunset, the mountain peak is tinged all over with gold.
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