Video: In China, foot traffic, blue skies, Great Wall

The Great Wall of China runs for more than 4,000 miles -- or 5,500, depending on how you count the various connected and separate segments that have gone up over the last 25 centuries or so.

In this video, you get a good luck at one of the wall’s busiest stretches: JuYong Pass (a.k.a. Juyongguan Pass), a sloping portion that’s about 35 miles north of downtown Beijing. You also get a bonus: blue skies, a rare treat in an area with chronic air pollution. (I happened to arrive, in July 2013, on the day after a rainstorm.)

“A Minute Away” is a video series in which nothing much happens -- except you see the world, and hear it, and get a respite from workaday life. We’ve covered Machu Picchu, Red Square, the Yucatan, the Alamo, an Alaska float plane and the reading room of the New York Public Library, among other places. We add a new minute just about every week. And if you’d prefer a full hour away, no worries. We’ve got more than enough here for you…