Interestingly, the Great Wall can not be seen from space – a popular misperception about the UNESCO-designated world heritage site.
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The bricks or slabs that have Chinese characters carved into them are sold for 30 yuan each or ($4.80) to local residents, said the Chinese newspaper. Some of the construction has weathered away, while plants growing in the walls have accelerated the decay, said the report, citing a survey previous year by the Great Wall of China Society.
Construction of the Great Wall of China first began in the third century BC, and when it was fully completed, both the ancient portion, as well as the 6,300 kilometers built during the Ming Dynasty spanned an estimated 21,196km.
The 8,000-kilometer-long Great Wall was built in different dynasties in history.
Some of the towers are so dilapidated it’s believed they could be wiped out by a single storm. A Sunday report in the Beijing Times changed that.
Dong Yaohui, vice chairman of the China Great Wall Society, was reported as saying that the Great Wall was an architectural marvel and a major world cultural heritage, and hence the fix and protection work should be extended to encompass the entire Great Wall, rather than only a section of it. Should China impose stricter penalties to stave off would-be thieves from stealing bricks from the Wall?
The fine doesn’t seem to prevent the villagers from taking more bricks from the Great Wall, however, since there really is no formal organization that enforces the rules, Jia Hailin, a cultural relics protection official in Hebei told The Beijing Times.
Around one-third of China’s Great Wall has dissolved over time, due not only to the harsh natural elements, but also to human activity.
Adding to the great threat of human activities are the tourists who dare explore the unprotected sections of the Great Wall, which leads to more damage, according to a report by the Beijing Times. The restoration will cost 208 million yuan of $34 million.
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As one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the wall attracts a huge amount of domestic and worldwide tourism, and the visitor numbers, along with wear and tear-parts of the wall are more than 2000 years old-have taken their toll.
