Built in 1368, the Great Wall of China was intended to keep invaders at bay. It didn't. The Mongols breached it and so did the Manchus. This section has been restored -- most of the wall is crumbling away. Each tower was spaced two arrow shots apart to leave no part unprotected. The Great Wall functioned not only as a defensive barrier but was also used as a road for rapid transport of soldiers across the country. The building with the curving roof in the foreground was built during the Ming Dynasty. It served as a fort, signal tower, and storeroom. I organize this foggy image around a tiny spot of white at dead center. White always draws the eye, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. In this case, the white sweater of a tourist standing just outside the signal tower’s central doorway provides a focal point around which to build the image. She offers a touch of today in a place of fogbound history. I lead the eye to her by running ever-receding walls into the frame at both left and right. The walls resume after the tower, wrapping around the tower and leading the eye deeply into the mist, past tiny tourists to the next tower, the next, and the next. The Great Wall gradually recedes into the fog, just as it has receded into history.