The Great Wall of China - Preservation and Restoration of the Great Wall of China
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The great wall of China we see today is no where near its formal glory. More than two thirds of the Great Wall has silently disappeared. It was built as a military fortification, ironically, the Great Wall has also been suffering from attacks for thousands of years, attacks from both natural and human forces. Natural calamity is the obvious culprit, for few monuments could survive long periods of harsh weather conditions. Rapid deforestation in northern China has also invited sand storms which caused further deterioration of the conditions of the Great Wall. During the Sino-Japanese war, a large portion of the great wall was also tore down by the Japanese invaders near Zhangjiakou City. In Shanxi, Liaoning, Hebei provinces, large sections of the wall were destroyed by the bombardments. There are also severe damages from the tourists vandalizing the Great Wall. But perhaps the most alarming damage is caused by the huge income distribution polarization in China. Some villages near the Great Wall were so poor, that they had to resort to looting stones from the Great Wall, to build roads and houses, and use the rampart as fertilizer. The Chinese government has recently proposed and implemented several measurements hoping to curb the situation. To boost tourism, several restoration programs are already in place. Large sections of the Badaling, arguably the most famous section of the Great Wall, has already been beautifully restored. |
Patrol Teams
A dedicated team is to patrol Great Wall to check against damage of the mammoth structure. The unit will focus on the 630-kilometre-long section in Beijing. Team members, who will be paid by local governments, will be mainly rural residents who live near the Wall, said Yu Ping, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage. It is the first time that the Wall in Beijing has had a special team to guard its ancient facade, of which only less than 20 per cent has been well preserved. It follows growing concern over the impact of tourism on the structure.
Currently, about 10 kilometres of the Beijing section of the Great Wall, such as Badaling and Mutianyu, is open to visitors. Saturated tourism is often blamed for damage to the oriental epitome of ancient Chinese civilization. Almost every brick at Badaling has been carved with people's names and graffiti. Other sections, which are called "wild wall" and not open to the public, also suffer from man-made damage. Neighbourhood villagers often put up iron ladders illegally to lure hikers to step up to it.
Apart from the patrol team, the Chinese administration announced that they will start to draw up a detailed layout of a buffer zone this year for the Wall, which will take up to three years to be finished. At present, only a general standard ranging from 500 metres to 2 kilometres away from the Wall is designated as a buffer zone to protect it. The administration also plans to draw up an overall report this year, including the history, current condition and future protection plans of the Wall.
Change in Law to protect the Great Wall
The Great Wall is expected to be protected by a specific law, says Dong Yaohui, secretary-general of the China Great Wall Society. The Beijing Bureau of Cultural Relics is soliciting expert advice over the drafting of a law to protect the Great Wall, a famous landmark of China. The law will focus on protecting the Great Wall, its attached buildings and surrounding environment in the Beijing sections. Intrepid hikers will not be permitted to explore unprotected sections of the Great Wall around Beijing from August 2003 onwards.
With booming tourism, the Great Wall has offered popular scenicspots and brought about huge profits. It receives about 10 millionvisitors every year all over the country, with 5 to 6 million in Beijing. Annual ticket income at the Badaling Great Wall in Beijing is about 100 million yuan (12.5 million US dollars).However, damage to the wall is becoming serious. Only one third of the original structure still stands, one third is partially intact and the rest has disappeared. About 600 km of the wall's total 629 km in the Beijing region remains natural. A desire for a taste of original Great Wall drives more tourists there, causing damage to the already loose structure.
The Great Wall is being nibbled away and disappearing brick by brick. The lack of awareness of conservation is a serious reason for the damage, Dong says. The dismantling of 60 meters of the Great Wall in Shanxi Province prompted a fine of only 200 yuan (25 US dollars). As part of conservation activities, the first large-scale fieldresearch on the Great Wall was started Thursday in Beijing. About 20 specialists will begin on August 3 their Great Wall journey which will last about 50 days.
Restoration Efforts
The second phase of renovation on a 12.4-kilometre-long section of the Great Wall - known as Huanghuacheng - has begun. The work, in the northeastern suburbs of Beijing, is the first renovation this year on the famous Wall. The initial repair project at Huanghuacheng started in March last year. It includes rehabilitating 13 battlements, two gates and 3,300 metres of wall on a four-kilogreat wall from the spacemetre stretch, said Mei Ninghua, director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage.
The Wall has been rebuilt by various dynasties in the last 2,000 years. This latest project is scheduled to be carried out in three phases and cost at least 12 million yuan (US$1.5 million), said Mei. "The renovation of the Great Wall should use original materials and traditional techniques as much as possible. Otherwise, the repairs will destroy the priceless heritage rather than preserve it," said Luo Zhewen, an expert on ancient architecture.
Several other parts of the Wall in Beijing are also expected to be repaired this year, including those at Jiankou, Chadaocheng and Gubeikou. These sections are known as "wild wall" because they are not open to tourists, said Mei. Wall renovations are part of the city's massive face-lifting project in which the municipal government plans to spend 600 million yuan (US$72 million) on heritage preservation between 2003 and 2007.
The Huanghuacheng section of the Great Wall was first built in the Northern Qi Dynasty (AD550-577). The current part was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In the summer this section of the Great Wall is covered in yellow flowers (Huanghua in Chinese), hence the name. It provides a challenge to hikers as the section has no stone steps and no single smooth path. Zhou Hongfu, an official with the local government of Huairou District where Huanghuacheng is located, said the section would be formally open to the public after the renovation.
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