The disappearance of China's Great Wall
Lack of money for preservation, the weather and even looting of the bricks to build houses are causing irreparable damage to the UNESCO World Heritage site
Around 30 per cent of China’s Ming-era Great Wall has disappeared over time as adverse natural conditions and reckless human activities – including stealing the bricks to build houses – erode the UNESCO World Heritage site, state media reports.
The Great Wall is not a single unbroken structure but stretches for thousands of kilometres in sections, from Shanhaiguan on the east coast to Jiayuguan in the windswept sands on the edge of the Gobi desert.
In places it is so dilapidated that estimates of its total length vary from 9,000 to 21,000 kilometres, depending on whether missing sections are included. Despite its length it is not, as is sometimes claimed, visible from space. Construction first begun in the third century BC, but nearly 6,300 kilometres were built in the Ming Dynasty of 1368-1644, including the much-visited sectors north of the capital Beijing.
Of that, 1,962 kilometres have melted away over the centuries, the Beijing Times reports.
Some of the construction weathered away, while plants growing in the walls have accelerated the decay, according to the recent report, which cited a survey last year by the Great Wall of China Society.
“Even though some of the walls are built of bricks and stones, they cannot withstand the perennial exposure to wind and rain,” Dong Yaohui, a vice president of the society, was quoted as saying.
“Many towers are becoming increasingly shaky and may collapse in a single rain storm in summer.”
Local data show that in the summer of 2012, 36 metres of the Dajing Gate part of the Great Wall in Zhangjiakou, a city in northwestern Hebei province, was damaged by storms; the Shanhai Pass part in Qinhuangdao, a city in northeast part of Hebei province, leaked badly; while some fighting towers of the Wulonggou portion in Laiyuan, a city in western Hebei province, totally collapsed.
Even in the dry seasons, because of lack of protection, the Great Wall in the mountain areas in Hebei province was eroded by mountain springs or even plants. In Funing County, a county in Qinhuangdao, if you slightly touch the wall of the watchtowers, you will find soil peeling off. There are also trees growing in the cracks of the Great Wall.
The Great Wall Society, it is not optimistic about the protection of the Great Wall, pointing out that only 8.2 per cent of the Great Wall, which was built between 1368 and 1644) is in good condition.
The World Monument Fund based in New York announced in 2003 that the Great Wall was among the 100 most endangered historic sites.
Tourism and local residents' activities are also damaging the longest human construction in the world.
People living around or travelling to the Great Wall which has not been developed into tourist attractions are also damaging the wall. According to Zhang Heshan, a Great Wall protector in Funing County, more travellers have been exploring the wild Great Wall in recent years. The frequent trampling has led to damage, causing the bricks to loosen, and even walls to collapse. However, there were not enough protectors to patrol around these areas, and not enough money to restore the damage.
Journalists from the Beijing Times also found that people in some villages of Lulong County, in the west part of Qinhuangdao, lived in the houses built with ancient blue and grey bricks. They told the journalists that these bricks were removed from the Great Wall nearby.
Some villagers even sold the Great Wall bricks with carved characters. An unnamed villager in Dongfeng Village told the Beijing Times journalist that the market price of these bricks is 40 to 50 yuan (Bt220-Bt270) a piece, or even as low as 30 yuan. The villagers collect such bricks from the Great Wall without a second thought.
Under Chinese regulations people who take bricks from the Great Wall can be fined up to 5,000 yuan.
“But there is no specific organisation to enforce the rules. Damage could only be reported to higher authorities and it is hard to solve when it happened on the border of two provinces,” says Jia Hailin, a cultural relics protection official in Hebei, According to Dong Yaohui, it is difficult for the government to fully protect the Great Wall. "In Funing County, there are only 9 people in the department of cultural relics, but they have to go on a 142.5 km tour of inspection. It’s definitely impossible to take good care of the Great Wall by themselves," Dong said.
Dong also stressed that the counties along the Great Wall are relatively poor. Most of the counties surrounding the Great Wall in Zhangjiakou are national assigned poverty counties. Local governments cannot afford to repair and protect the Great Wall, or only invest in the parts that bring in revenue from tourism.
To some people, developing tourism is an effective way to protect the Great Wall. Xu Guohua, the head of Banchangyu Great Wall Development Company, says that the destruction from the villagers has stopped after development. Meanwhile, tourists know which part of the Great
But how to protect the disappearing Great Wall? Obviously, it is an important test for Chinese society.
“The Great Wall belongs to everybody of China. The duty of protection of the Great Wall not only belongs to the government, but also to the common people. The most urgent goal for us is to arouse the enthusiasm of the public to protect the Great Wall,” says Dong Yaohui.
