A Chinese woman is being dubbed 'Spiderwoman' after she scampered up the 70-ft stone wall of Nanjing's Zhonghua Gate using just her bare hands. While her only motivation was to save the $4.00 admission fee, Ma Jei ended up not only impressing onlookers, but also, people worldwide, with her amazing ascent.
Apparently, she made it look so easy that five other visitors tried to emulate her. However, things did not turn out too well for them - Two ended up falling and breaking their legs, whilst the rest had to be rescued by local policeman.
The one thing Ma Jei who grew up in China's Jiangsu Province forgot to mention, was that she has had plenty of practice - That's because while she has been visiting the castle that lies behind the wall since she was a little girl, she has never ever paid the admission fee!
While most Chinese cities had protecting walls built around them, Nanjing's city wall which measures an impressive 12 meters tall (39 feet) and between 7.62 (25 feet) to 12.19 meters (40 feet) thick, was the biggest and most formidable of all. Built during the Ming Era, many portions of the wall have been destroyed by wars or natural disasters. The few that are left, including the Zhonghua or Chinese Gate are now considered a national relic and protected by the government. What makes Zhonghua Gate even more special, is that it doubles up as a wall of one of the country's most magnificent and ancient castles, which was where, Spiderwoman was heading!
Resources; Huffingtonpost.co.uk, theSun.com