Great Wall

This is the Great Wall, near Beijing. Our guide said that about 1/3 of the Chinese who worked on the wall died while doing so. Apparently as soon as they were capable of heavy work locals were drafted into the Wall building force and they worked on the Wall until they dropped. From a distance, you can see how the giant masonry fortification snaked across miles of severe mountain terrain. It was build as much for transportation (of troops) as for point defense. The Wall is about 25 feet high on its "enemy" side. There were several soldiers from the Red Army standing around, one of whom seemed to like my hat. The ones they were wearing looked just like mine, except they had a little red star on the front. Note the very clear, clean air. This is about 60 miles northwest of Beijing.