China’s best-known attraction is still mind-boggling. The Great Wall begins at Shanhai Guan on the Bo Hai Sea and snakes west to a fort at Jiayu Guan in the Gobi Desert. A comprehensive archaeological survey has concluded that the entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 km. The separate walls that had been constructed by independent kingdoms, to keep out marauding nomads, were linked together. Several important sections have been rebuilt since, kitted out with souvenir shops, restaurants and amusement-park rides, and formally opened to the public.
