The Wall runs over 3,000 miles, from the boundary with Korea to the Gobi desert. We were brought to a restored section of the wall, an hours drive outside of Beijing, that is open to tourists. Beijing recently passed laws prohibiting visits to sections of the wall not open to the public or "in the wild".

The Great Wall was a gigantic defensive project used in ancient times as early as in the 7th century B.C. For self-protection, rival kingdoms built walls around their territories, laying foundations for the present Great Wall. The undertaking of such a huge project over difficult terrain, at that time without any machinery, was an extraordinary feat. A workforce of nearly a million, representing one fifth of the whole labour force of the country, was used to build it. Hardship and cruel treatment brought death to many of the laborers, and tragic stories were told, from which folk-tales and legends came into being. Subsequent dynasties continued to strengthen and extend the wall. The wall was built of stone blocks and bricks instead of the rough stones and clay used on the old walls. The primary purpose of the wall was not to keep out people, who could scale the wall, but to insure that semi-nomadic people on the outside of the wall could not cross with their horses.

The wall is not continuous. This is as far as we could go, and that is the view beyond.