Beijing: Introduction: Superlatives

The world’s longest wall. There’s only one Great Wall. It stretches 3,000 miles from the Gobi Desert to the east coast, via Beijing, but it’s dilapidated, or has disappeared, in parts.

The world’s largest population, the 1.3 billionth child was born a few years ago. Some fifteen million people live in Beijing.

The world’s only major remaining Socialist nation. The world’s oldest continuous civilization—depending on the source, either 2,000 years or up to 5,000 years.

The only place where giant pandas are found, in the westerly Chinese provinces, and Beijing has some in its zoo.

Chinese invented, among other things, gunpowder, the compass, typesetting, the abacus, papermaking, porcelain pot–making and silk-making.

The world’s largest standing army, the People’s Liberation Army, estimated to be one million strong.