第四集《风雪塞外》"Beyond the Great Wall"
该集所涉及的地域样貌是系列中最多样化最丰富的。有内蒙草原、甘肃戈壁，也有东北密林、西部边陲。有以“魔鬼城”闻名的敦煌雅丹，也有凡间仙境长白山天池，也有荒芜人迹的大沙漠。这里生活着野马、野猪、鹅喉羚、沙鼠、大天鹅、蓑羽鹤、沙狐和东北虎，还有驯金雕捕猎的哈萨克族，用传统方法破冰捕鱼的赫哲族，养蚕织成五彩丝绸的维吾尔族，豢养驯鹿作为交通工具的鄂温克族，当然更少不了生活在马背上的蒙古族。该集有很大一部分表现了动物与少数民族生活之间的密切联系。这种关系由来已久，甚至敦煌壁画里也有关于驼队的生动描绘。
The fourth episode looks at the lands north of China’s Great Wall. Here, nomadic tribes from a variety of ethnic groups still roam, but their traditional ways of life are changing as people move to modern cities. In ancient Manchuria, the last Hezhe fishermen still cast their nets beneath the thick ice of the frozen Black Dragon River. The forests here support wild boar, which forage for walnuts in winter, and the last remaining wild Siberian tigers in China. Ewenki reindeer herders came from Siberia hundreds of years ago: now, only 30 remain. Further west lie the rolling Mongolian steppe grasslands, and at Bayan Bulak, the livestock of Mongolian horsemen share the pastures and wetlands with breeding demoiselle cranes and whooper swans. Continuing westwards, the land becomes increasingly hot and dry, turning first to arid grasslands roamed by rare goitered gazelles, and then to the Taklamakan Desert, the world’s largest shifting sand desert. Here stand ruined towns, a legacy of the Silk Road, and many yardangs, sand-sculpted rock formations. Underground irrigation canals at the Turpan oasis enable grapes to be cultivated, and red-tailed gerbils are quick to take advantage. Kazakh nomads spend the summer in the Tian Shan before descending to the Junggar Basin, an arid land bordering the Gobi Desert, to overwinter. Here their livestock shares the meagre pasture with the last wild horses on earth. A Kazakh demonstrates the 6000-year-old tradition of hunting with golden eagles. The closing scenes show the Harbin Ice Festival.