【CNN 20160729】China cracks down on Great Wall brick thieves

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China cracks down on Great Wall brick thieves

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/29/travel/china-great-wall-crack-down/index.html


By Clara Lindh, for CNN  Updated 0506 GMT (1306 HKT) July 29, 2016






Story highlights

• Less than 10% of the 21,000 km Great Wall is in good condition
• China launches campaign to prevent theft of bricks
  

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[size=1.2](CNN)The Great Wall is disappearing, brick by brick, and Chinese authorities have had enough.

A new campaign has been launched to protect the ancient fortification that snakes for 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers) across northern China from criminal damage.

Built in different stages from the third century B.C. to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the wall was built to defend an empire but parts of it are now crumbling.

Bricks have been stolen to build houses, for agriculture or to sell as souvenirs to tourists -- exACerbating the natural erosion wrought by wind, rain and sandstorms.

'One third' of Great Wall disappears

[size=1.2]The crackdown will include spots checks, regular inspections and a hotline to allow members of the public to report damage, official news agency Xinhua reported.

[size=1.2]The State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) first outlined the new regulations earlier this year but the issue has been in the headlines after a videoof a man kicking and vandalizing the wall went viral on Chinese social media last week.

[size=1.2]Many China visitors associate the Great Wall with an extensively restored stretch of Ming era wall at Badaling near Beijing, but this is far from typical of most of the structure.

[size=1.2]According to official statistics, around 30% of the Ming Dynasty section of the wall has already disappeared and less than 10% is considered well preserved.

[size=1.2]"The Great Wall is a vast heritage site -- over 20,000 kilometers -- hence increasing the difficulty in preservation and restoration," Dong Yaohui, deputy director of the Great Wall of China Society, told CNN last year.

[size=1.2]How to explore China's other Great Wall

[size=1.06667]Beijing intern Hangda Zhang contributed to this report

今天的正义

保护长城也弄些高大上的语言！