Photo: Screenshot from website

East China's Shandong Province has spent 400 million yuan ($64 million) building tunnels to protect 50 meters of The Greet Wall of Qi, dating from the Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC), which come amid the upgrading of roads to reduce traffic congestion.

Challenges have been met during the building of the tunnels. The roads should pass through the historical relic, and the teams building the tunnels to protect the relic will also ensure the road is unobstructed. 

Experts said that the building of the tunnel is an extremely high-level program, especially with the historical relic in close proximity.  

Decreasing the impact of relic, the construction company has implemented a series of measures such as a detailed geological survey and a design to ensure that the design and construction of the tunnel will not damage the site; advanced construction equipment and techniques were utilized to ensure construction quality and safety, and cooperation with archaeologists and conservation authorities has been strengthened to ensure that sites are protected as much as possible during the construction process.

The tunnel, less than 3-kilometer-long, costs more than $64 million and the time frame has doubled. 

This practice is creating a stir among China 's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. 

"It is a huge investment!" one user posted on Weibo, adding that "The passage of the tunnel not only represents the progress of the project, but also shows that the government protects and values the historical relic."

"We need to jointly protect the 2600 years old ancient great wall!" said one comment on the Weibo.

Zhang Guoyong, deputy researcher of the Xingtai Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Research Center at the North China's Heibei Province, agreed with this saying,"Among all cultural relics, the Great Wall is an important symbol of the Chinese nation and the spiritual identity of the nation, and it is the common responsibility of the whole society to protect the Great Wall and pass on its spirit to future generations," he told the Global Times.
 
"Shandong government's practice of properly protecting the Great Wall of Qi in the widening of the national highway at a high cost has correctly dealt with the relationship between economic construction and the protection of cultural relics. This has allowed cultural relics to survive in today's society, thus preserving the precious cultural heritage for future generations, which is worthy of study and reference," he added.

The Great Wall of Qi is the oldest existing Great Wall in China, dating from the Warring States Period (475BC-221BC) to defend against attacks, which enjoys a prominent position in China.

The wall stretches from Guangli village of today's Changqing District, Jinan, running across the mountain ridges of central Shandong Province to the Yellow Sea in the present-day city of Qingdao. Its total length has been estimated at about 600 kilometers. Most of the wall can still be seen.