China ſituated in the furtheſt part of Aſia, borders towards the Eaſt, South, and Weſt, upon the great Indian Sea, and is called Tung by the Chineſes, which ſignifies Eaſterly. And on the North it is ſeparated from the Kingdoms of Ninche, and Nicolhan, by that famous Wall which was made by thoſe of China againſt the Invaſion of the Tartars.]

1741, Uncredited translator, A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary by Jean-Baptiste du Halde, London: Edward Cave, pages 20-21,
The Gates of the Great Wall are defended on the ſide of China, by pretty large Forts : The firſt of them to the Eaſt is call'd Shang-bay-Quan, it ſtands near the Wall, which extends, from the Bulwark before-mentioned, the Space of a League, along a Country perfectly level, and does not begin to aſcend the Mountains, till after it has paſs'd that Place.

Kalgan or Chang-chia-k'ou (張家口) is in the north-western corner of the province just inside the Great Wall, at the beginning of the camel route across the desert to Siberia.

On the trip out our car was full of railway workers, going out to work on the Lanchow-Sinkiang Railway which had already reached Yumen, China’s biggest oil field, and in 1960 will connect with the Soviet Union’s Turkestan-Siberia Railway; or to the Lanchow-Yinchuan section, which cuts through the Great Wall to reach Yinchuan, a major wool, hide and skin trading center in the Northwest.

Under the Nationalist regime, Peking's municipal area covered more than 300 sq.mi. Under the Communists, the city limits were greatly expanded. As a result of annexations in 1953, the municipal district was extended to the Great Wall, 35 mi. from the city centre.

This reconstructed Great Wall stretched from the River Yalu in the east, on the border with Korea, to Chiayükuan in Kansu Province.

After we toured the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, I held a question-and-answer session with students at Beijing University.

After lunch we picked up Nancy & were off to the Great Wall. All the way we waved our arms off at the crowds lining the streets to see us & even in the villages after we got out of the country.
The Wall has an amazing effect even though you've seen photos & movies of it. There is a feeling I can't describe when you stand on it & see it disappear over the mountains in both directions.

In March 1647, three years after the Manchus had first occupied Beijing, Chang Shang, the governor of Kansu Province, was on an inspection tour. By March 4 he had reached Yung-ch'ang, a county lying just within the Great Wall.

Great wall

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