Mike Cooper first came to China in 2009 as part of a team of volunteer teachers operating summer camps in four different Chinese provinces. Mike returned to China in 2010 to study Chinese at Beijing Normal University, and moved to China upon graduating from Dartmouth College in 2012. After moving to China, Mike enrolled in an intensive Chinese language program at Tsinghua University. In the spring of 2015, he obtained his Chinese driver’s license and has taken several long-distance road trips in China – including a trip in which he followed the Great Wall for 1,400 miles from Beijing to the western end of the Great Wall in China’s Gansu Province. He is an avid photographer and drone pilot, and has captured aerial videos and photos of many sections of the Great Wall around Beijing, and sections in Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu Provinces. In addition to hiking and photographing the Great Wall, Mike enjoys studying the history of the different sections and interacting with the locals living in the nearby villages. Born and raised near the Northern Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Mike developed a penchant for outdoor activities at a young age.