China is much in the news these days, but it remains oddly opaque to most foreigners, at least partly by design. This book, the longest and most ambitious yet in the Wonders of the World series, is an attempt to remedy that. Taking as its central metaphor the legendary Great Wall of China, it explores the country's almost incomprehensibly long history, from Peking Man to COVID-19, in the exciting, thought-provoking, readable fashion for which this series has become known. The Chinese of the distant past named their land "The Middle Kingdom" because they believed that it literally stood in the middle -- i.e., the center -- of the world, the beacon of civilization around which all other lands and peoples oriented themselves. Join this journey through China's history, and arrive at a better understanding of the modern nation that is once again so determined to press its claim to centrality.