Great Wall under siege by hordes of tourists

• Source: Global Times
• [08:33 November 12 2009]
• Comments

However, as in recent years the wild wall has become increasingly popular with foreign and domestic tourists alike, now not only individual tourists but also large organized groups climb about the wall.

Littering has received much attention and there have been several cleanup campaigns by devoted conversation activists, but the biggest problem is the irreversible destruction of wall structures.

Whenever a careless tourist kicks loose a brick, it not only can harm the person behind him, but it also provides a new attack point for erosion.

Consequently, whole staircases and other wall parts have collapsed in recent years, especially around Simatai and east of Mutianyu.

I suspect that some locals deliberately join forces with erosion to render certain parts of the wall impassable, unless one pays 5 yuan ($0.73) for using the ladder they happen to kindly provide.

Graffiti – that primal habit of letting others know that we were here before them – and theft of anything that is sellable in the antique markets also add to the demolition process.

During past explorations, I found several stones and tablets with inscriptions, but later almost all disappeared and now probably are the pride of somebody's living room or garden.

These are not new problems – domestic and foreign activists for over 10 years have brought attention to the need for more comprehensive protection of the Great Wall – but they have aggravated in recent years and conservation efforts are inadequate.

To be sure, the authorities of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage are well aware of the wall's grave situation and have tried to tackle it, but much more needs to be done.

It is, without doubt, difficult to manage the conservation of such a huge structure, and prohibiting people from access to the wild wall is neither desirable nor enforceable.

However, since most wild wall tourism concentrates on a few specific places, its detrimental impact could be better mitigated.

Moreover, it is within Beijing's administrative means to, for example, incentivize local governments to better protect the wall from road construction or to prevent theft of its cultural relics.

There currently are more urgent issues on the national agenda, but preserving the world's largest historic building should still rank pretty high.

Western European countries long neglected the Limes, the old Roman wall system, and by the time they realized that conservation was necessary, many sections were already lost for good. China must not repeat this mistake.

The author is a Great Wall aficionado and currently a student at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Energy Policy Program. markfreier@gmail.com