“Once a bulwark against enemy attacks, today it brings peoples together” — reads the slogan of a detergent company, carved into a stone bearing its company logo right at one of the entry points to the Great Wall of China. The Mutianyu access point, about 70 kilometers northeast of Beijing, is one of the less crowded spots for entering the world’s largest structure. A cable car climbs several hundred meters in elevation, and a footpath is also available. The farther one moves from the entrance, the more solitary the walk becomes along the wall’s many curves and staircases. On one hand, fog blocks the sweeping views over the many hills of this densely forested landscape; on the other, the weather leaves plenty of room for historical musings on what might have happened here a thousand years ago.
