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Tourism boom, neglect devouring China`s Great Wall
Beijing, Jan 26: Booming tourism, neglect and inadequate funds for protection is nibbling away China`s Great Wall and just one-third of it remains, a latest report says.
Beijing, Jan 26: Booming tourism, neglect and inadequate funds for protection is nibbling away China's Great Wall and just one-third of it remains, a latest report says.
Only one-third of the 6,350 kilometres of Great Wall, a world famous landmark in China now exists and the length is still shortening, it says.
The Great Wall, one of the seven wonders of the world, was first built in the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) as a major defensive project and rebuilt in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
Surviving the times, the Great Wall was listed as a world cultural heritage site in 1987 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
The most recent case of damage happened last December in Hebei province, north China, a news agency reported.
A survey team found that a 14-metre-long breach had occurred at the 600-year-old Hongyukou section of the Great Wall. The blocks removed from the Great Wall rampart had been set aside and on both sides of the breach, two sections of 1,000-meter new cement wall replaced the original wall.
Investigation showed that the project was part of the planned Hongyu villa project, which was unauthorised by any cultural relic department.
After being fined 100,000 Yuan (12,000 US dollars) for the damage to the Great Wall, the investor Zhou Wen felt he had been wronged.
Many farmers along the wall even don't know that the Great Wall is under state protection. Wall bricks become their courtyard walls and even pig pens in some remote areas.
Booming tourism, in itself, has increased the burden on the Great Wall. The wall has offered popular scenic spots and brought huge profits in recent years.
Statistics show that it receives about 10 million visitors every year all over the country.
Developing tourism resources of the wall should put construction of convenient transport facilities first but leave the original state of the wall untouched, he said.
But the project destroyed the integrity of one of the best-preserved parts of the Ming dynasty, said Hao Sanjin, a member of the Great Wall Society of China.
"Improper repair is just one kind of destruction," said Dong Yaohui, general-secretary of the organisation.
In the 1980s, cultural heritage departments provided subsidies to some farmers along the great wall to help with the protection of cultural relics and the spread of knowledge on protection among fellow farmers. But the subsidies stopped due to lack of funds. Bureau Report
The Great Wall, one of the seven wonders of the world, was first built in the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) as a major defensive project and rebuilt in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
Surviving the times, the Great Wall was listed as a world cultural heritage site in 1987 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
The most recent case of damage happened last December in Hebei province, north China, a news agency reported.
A survey team found that a 14-metre-long breach had occurred at the 600-year-old Hongyukou section of the Great Wall. The blocks removed from the Great Wall rampart had been set aside and on both sides of the breach, two sections of 1,000-meter new cement wall replaced the original wall.
Investigation showed that the project was part of the planned Hongyu villa project, which was unauthorised by any cultural relic department.
After being fined 100,000 Yuan (12,000 US dollars) for the damage to the Great Wall, the investor Zhou Wen felt he had been wronged.
Many farmers along the wall even don't know that the Great Wall is under state protection. Wall bricks become their courtyard walls and even pig pens in some remote areas.
Booming tourism, in itself, has increased the burden on the Great Wall. The wall has offered popular scenic spots and brought huge profits in recent years.
Statistics show that it receives about 10 million visitors every year all over the country.
Developing tourism resources of the wall should put construction of convenient transport facilities first but leave the original state of the wall untouched, he said.
But the project destroyed the integrity of one of the best-preserved parts of the Ming dynasty, said Hao Sanjin, a member of the Great Wall Society of China.
"Improper repair is just one kind of destruction," said Dong Yaohui, general-secretary of the organisation.
In the 1980s, cultural heritage departments provided subsidies to some farmers along the great wall to help with the protection of cultural relics and the spread of knowledge on protection among fellow farmers. But the subsidies stopped due to lack of funds. Bureau Report