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Frances Wood

Frances Wood is an author and scholar who was formerly the curator of the British Library’s Chinese collections. Where is your favourite wall? ‘Of course, The Great Wall: memories of winter visits as a student, with bare hills, frozen waterfalls and almost no visitors. There isn’t much competition – I once went to see Hadrian’s Wall in England but failed to find it as it hardly stood out from the fields.’

  • Beijing

    The greatest walls of China

    There is no such thing as The Great Wall, according to Frances Wood. But that’s not to say the many walls between Gansu and Shandong provinces aren’t some of the most remarkable structures in human history. The Chinese scholar chooses four of the most significant sections and tells the stories of the people behind the ramparts