Great Wall Festival Review: So This Is What It's Like To Party On A Wonder Of The World

The habitat of a festival is just as significant as its performing roster. I’ve had the privilege of raving on black sandy beaches in Taipei, beneath UFO-like frisbee stages in Phu Quoc, within ramshackle docklands in Amsterdam and forested open-airs in Berlin. I hadn’t yet, however, partied on an actual Wonder of the World. As surreal as it sounds, that changed when I found myself at the Great Wall Festival in China. Yes, that Great Wall. 

I’m not going to lie; my curiosity was piqued when I chanced upon videos of Nina Kraviz playing atop a watchtower on the wall. Not unlike the pinch-me-I’m-dreaming nature of a Cercle production, the setting portrayed in the Kraviz videos seemed preposterous. A flock of ravers – a large portion of them, foreign – carefreely dancing atop a national monument that’s undoubtedly watched like a hawk by the Chinese government? In a country where Facebook is purged by the ‘Great Firewall’, are such non-conservative videos even welcomed by the authorities? Is this gathering even legal?

I’m not often one for political debate, but hopefully, you comprehend my inquisitiveness regarding the festival. I can tell you right now that the Great Wall Festival is still a heavily-regulated (and legal) event, as it should be. No one wants this festival to be turned into Disneyland, swarmed by legions of uninitiated attendees just here for that Insta-worthy selfie. No one wants an inebriated accident, on a wall already historically marred by death. Nor does anyone want this festival to be shut down, not when it’s helping the country open its once-shut doors to the global dance industry.

As long as the Great Wall Festival remained active, I was going to take my chances and put it on my bucket list, or so I concluded to myself. And positively, my regrets were few.

The Great Wall Festival is held at the Mutianyu section of the gargantuan monument, built in the year 550 AD during the Northern Qi Dynasty. Getting there required my friends and I to flag a cab from Beijing, which turned out to be an affordable ride spanning fewer than two hours. While you can camp at the festival – basic camping gear is provided – there are several Airbnb residences and chalet villas nearby if hot showers and clean sheets are a necessity for you.

You enter via the gaping gates of the Beijing Huaibei International Ski Resort, where jolly aunties try to sell you cheap beer outside. In the springtime months of May, the slopes are caked with mud and dirt instead of snow, lying beneath green undulating hills that you’d pluck out from a Ghibli movie. As a ski resort, this locale is lifeless. But follow the upward trail, and you’ll reach the heart of the Great Wall Festival which is very much full of it.

Festivals need character, and I must say that the Great Wall Festival has plenty. It is very much in tune with its venue’s history, with decorations that parade the theme brazenly. Imperial war flags, giant Chinese opera masks, and stunning replicas of majestic Terracotta warriors that watch the revelries with sombre regality. Even the tokens are shaped after ancient coins reminiscent of dynasty rule in China, a cheap thrill rich with detail.

The aforementioned opera masks form the backdrop of the smaller, secondary stage that’s sheltered beneath canopies of foliage and painted parasols. It is here where I discovered burgeoning acts like AIDA from Russia and Beijing’s very own Diva Li. Sounds in this sequestered stage ranged from progressive techno to electro, providing a soundtrack of discovery delivered by some of China’s very best. My only gripe was the festival’s lack of an official timetable, making recognition of artistes difficult.

This issue, however, was absent at the main stage, where all the headliners were slated to play. Commanding a stage shaped like a magnificent chariot steered by a troop of war horses, the selectors who played here became generals of the dance floor.

Mind Against welcomed punters who arrived in the early afternoon with their signature calibre of deep and riff-rife techno. The legendary Dave Clarke followed suit more vociferously with harder, hellacious selections, continuing to cement his reputation as the true “Baron of Techno”. And as darkness fell over the festival, Pan-Pot took the reins of the console to push out their consistent formula of festival-ready thumpers, before ending belligerently with The Prodigy’s “Breathe” in memory of Keith Flint.

Now here is where I highlight my happiest moment of the Great Wall Festival, and I’m not even talking about my visit to the top the wall yet. Past midnight, Singapore’s very own CATS ON CRACK – co-founder of The Council – took over the main stage, making her the first-ever Singaporean DJ to grace the decks of the Great Wall Festival. Experimental and journey-centric, she seamlessly weaved together classics like the breakbeat-laden “Return Of The Hooligans” by DJ Normal 4 and trance-saluting “Superstitious” by Luxor. The feather in her cap came in the form of “Chilli Bean”, a campy Chinese take on Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” remixed by yet another Singaporean selector, Kaye.

I’m just going to say it, but she did the Singaporean scene proud.

Contrariwise, CATS ON CRACK’s playful revelries would then lead into a destructive techno assault from Sophia Saze, with a sound that, like drum sticks striking the clouds above, bashed a hole through the heavens. At 2am, the festival was hit with a malicious storm that not only cut power to the stage, but to many areas of the festival.

This led to dozens of remaining punters fleeing to the food stands for shelter, and without power and security, disorderliness ensued. We encountered looters who demanded (and stole) leftovers from helpless stall-owners, and tensions were high from the darkness, cold rain, and lack of an exit strategy. It took over an hour for staff to swing by and supply raincoats to those unequipped, before ushering everyone to safety.

My suggestion to you lest it happens again? Pack warm clothing, a poncho, footwear that you’re not afraid to get muddy, and your torchlight. And for humanity’s sake, don’t be an asshole and steal.

But while the storm might’ve dampened spirits on the end of the first night, things brightened up for those lucky enough to snag entry to the main attraction. Yes, I’m finally talking about the actual experience of partying on the wall.

It is important to note that normal ticket-holders didn’t actually get a chance to relish this experience; the two stages of the Great Wall Festival don’t actually sit on the wall, but close to it. Information regarding the party on the watchtower was kept extremely low-key and scant.

This was, understandably, a regulated move, ensuring that the wall wasn’t flooded with too much unwanted publicity, laying low from the government’s gaze. Many attendees weren’t aware of this and ended up not being privy to the festivities, bombarding the event’s Facebook group with numerous questions that were left unanswered.

Fortunately, we managed to procure this rare opportunity, taking a cab to a different part of the wall at around 9am. By then, the storm had long subsided, and we now had to make our way to the top of the wall via a cable car ride and more short treks along its winding, steep trail.

It sounds exhausting and a tad harrowing if you’re prone to vertigo, but let me assure you that it is worth every step once you’re there. The Great Wall’s “Wonder of the World” accolade is no exaggeration. The snaking corridors of the wall truly stretch as far as the eyes can see, like stone rivers meandering and branching out from seas of green. From afar, we could see the watchtower where the organisers had set up a filming crew to re-enact the Nina Kraviz moment from last year. As we ventured closer, we could feel the faint murmur of a kick thudding gently against the wall’s weathered yet resilient surface, although it ended by the time we reached the cloistered tower.

Apparently, we had just missed Mind Against’s sunrise set. Yet, the organisers signalled at us to climb up the knee-high stairs swiftly to ensure we didn’t attract the attention of the surrounding tourist hordes, now growing more curious about the hubbub. 

On top of the tower, we spotted around a hundred of us troopers, some of whom had camped through the preceding storm. And on the other side of this square courtyard in the sky, the one and only Ben Klock with an intimate techno showcase.

You don’t forget mornings like these.

Gone was the ordeal from the storm the night before. None of it mattered. Being up there on this historical landmark, making history amongst the raving community; the thump from the beats wakes you up more potently than an espresso shot, stirred into a transcendent setting that enlivens amidst blustery gusts of wind and the thawing warmth of sunshine. It is a sobering moment, yet one that still manages to feel like a dream.

So this is what it’s like to dance atop a Wonder of the World.

75 minutes later, and not a single one of us who attended that spectacle was the same.

But the party was far from over. We would find ourselves back at the festival’s main grounds later that afternoon, where clear blue skies awaited us. At the main stage, Marcel Dettmann played a rollicking daytime set that sported tracks like “The Portrait of Nina Sayers” by Hemka and – a perennial, tongue-in-cheek favourite of his – an edit of Dead Or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”.

The German techno momentum would continue as Ben Klock took over from Dettmann, now able to release his unbridled, full-on form as day turned into night. Sonorous kicks rang through the air, complete with disruptive synth loops and glitchy modular elements.

While the Great Wall Festival was billed as a 30-hour event – objectively short by other festivals’ standards – it seemed like a quest that lasted much longer. But then again, this isn’t just any other festival.

What was once erected as fortification against foreign entities is now a bastion of inclusivity, fortifying the barrierless appeal of underground dance music as it enters the once-forbidden territory of China. With smoother communication and augmented safety measures against the elements, this can truly be one of the wonders of the festival world.

For more information on the Great Wall Festival, visit its official website.