The day after I arrived in China, I was at the Great Wall! Well, well, maybe three days later, but it was the first outdoor catering that I did in China, being the opening of the second part of the Great Wall to the public. There had been a part open for years, but this was a newly renovated part, complete with cable car, which we could not use for the catering of course! The Great Wall Sheraton was one of the few international Hotels within Beijing at that time, so these caterings were evenly split between us. We also catered at the Summer Palace and the Ming Tombs. Needless to say, the catering went well and we went on to have a very busy yer in the Hotel until the Tiananmen Square episode. There is a photo floating around somewhere of myself on the Great Wall in Chefs uniform, must be one of the few who can lay claim to this! The Great Wall was originally built many years ago as a defensive fortification by the three states: Yan, Zhao and Qin. Over the years it went through constant extensions and repairs and was originally independent walls for different states when it was first built, and did not become the “Great” wall until the Qin Dynasty. Emperor Qin Shihuang succeeded in his effort to have the walls joined together to fend off the invasions from the Huns in the north after the unification of China. Since then, the Great Wall has served as a monument of the Chinese nation throughout history. A great army of manpower, composed of soldiers, prisoners, and local people and drew heavily on the local resources for construction materials being of a different structure as the local conditions allowed. Marg and I visited the wall a couple of times, managing the steps that can be half the height that Marg was nearly and puffing our way up steep sections to have some amazing views around the place. We did get to ride in the cable car eventually and visiting the wall still remains an highlight of our time there!