History of the Great Wall of China the three, China's chief concern since the earliest times had been Mongolia – the home of many of the country's fiercest enemies including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Khitans, and the Mongols. The Gobi Desert, which accounts for two-thirds of Mongolia's area, divided the main northern and southern grazing lands and pushed the pastoral nomads to the fringes of the steppe. On the southern side (Inner Mongolia), this pressure brought the nomads into contact with China. For the most part, barring intermittent passes and valleys (the major one being the corridor through Zhangjiakou and the Juyong Pass), the North China
A Tale of the Wind of China, which Ivens filmed in 1938. Footage from the air is seen of the Great Wall of China, partially covered in desert sand. Trying to film the Terracotta Army, Ivens and Marceline Loridan only obtain permission to film for ten minutes, which would not be enough. Ivens therefore buys a large number of replicas from local tourist shops to create his own army, which he arranges and films, together with choreographed men dressed up in terracotta warrior costumes. At Ivens' camp in the Gobi Desert, an old woman approaches and says she can summon the wind by drawing a