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"The rephotographs demonstrate the unsurprising fact that the passage of time, the tragedies of history, and the pressures of population and development have not been kind to the Great Wall. A section photographed by the archaeologist Aurel Stein in Gansu Province around 1910 was then unbroken for seven miles, but Lindesay found that it is now crossed by "two rail lines, 17 power lines, the west to east gas line, 15 dirt roads, one main road, an abandoned main road and the G-312 expressway — which is actually routed under the Wall."

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