“Looking to the Yellow Sea coast, I watched the sun’s disc edge above the horizon and the slow trading of colour between the fading orange sky and the brightening green and yellow hues of the plain. Gradually my route of the previous day clarified, from the sea to town, over which now hung a patch of dawn smog, caused by the coal-burning stoves of the townsfolk. Between town and mountains, the low angle of sunlight gave the Wall a shadowed edge, underling the strategic importance of Shanhaiguan — ‘mountain-sea-pass’. I thought of soldiers from centuries ago billeted in this very watch-tower, waking up and pausing to witness this morning ritual of the sun.” — Extract from ‘Alone on the Great Wall.”