Keeping the Great Wall great

gzlaser

CHINESE are happy that a global poll has decided that the Great Wall is a wonder of the world. But some people worry about tourism and neglect destroying the already crumbling fortification.

The Great Wall was chosen in the recent worldwide online poll as one of the new seven wonders of the world. The man behind the poll, Bernard Weber, said he hoped it would inspire preservation efforts.

But the Wall has been seriously destroyed by visitors. \"I'm surprised that it is still considered one of the new seven wonders of the world,\" said Wang Xiaoyu from nearby Beijing, visiting the Badaling section.

Almost every brick in sections of the Wall with tourist concentrations, like Badaling, is marked by graffiti.

Many popular parts of the Wall have been crowded in recent years with unsightly hotels, restaurants and shops. Some sections have a lot of garbage. Weathering, erosion and dust are also a threat.

China's Great Wall Society reported that about 20 percent of the 6,300-kilometre structure is in reasonable shape, another 30 per cent is in ruins, and the rest has simply disappeared.

In recent years, China has stepped up efforts to restore some parts of the Wall. The first national ruling to protect the Wall, took effect last December.

A China Daily editorial on Monday said, \"It is the time to re-evaluate conservation efforts to guarantee that it remains a wonder.\"

The law says...

ORGANIZING activities on sections of the Great Wall not open to tourists, carving names, digging out bricks and planting trees anywhere along the Wall were declared illegal on December 1, 2006 by the Regulation on Protecting the Great Wall.

It bans driving on it, building unauthorized structures on it, or any other activities that could harm it. Any individual who violates it can be fined as much as 50,000 yuan, while institutions can be fined as much as 500,000 yuan.

Anyone who does serious damage to the Wall can face criminal prosecution. The Criminal Law states that anyone who deliberately destroys State or provincial-level relics can be jailed for up to 10 years.

21ST