Beijing Wtown

This guide to Beijing Wtown explains how a cluster of real villages beneath the Simatai stretch of the Great Wall was cleared around 2010 and rebuilt from scratch as a Ming-and-Qing-style canal town, opening to visitors in October 2014. You'll hear about the investors behind the project, who had already turned Wuzhen into a tourist sensation, and about the residents relocated to new apartments nearby. Look past the rooftops at the wall on the ridge above — that part has a much older story.