64.Regulation on Great Wall Protection

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Regulation on Great Wall Protection

Well-Preserved Great Wall in Beijing

The Great Wall of China, being one of the greatest engineering projects on earth, attracts more and more visitors from home and world each year. However, many visitors and local residents' bad behavior on the wall have brought a lot of severe problems. The wall is striving to live! Chinese government pays great attention to the wall's predicament and protection. On Sep. 20 of 2006, the State Council promulgated the regulation on the protection of the Great Wall, which went into effect on Dec.1 of the same year.

The regulation has well regulated visitors' and local residents' behaviors on the wall. When they visit the wall, tourists must observe his or her obligations to protect it. The regulation has 31 articles in all regarding to every uncivil behavior those tourists or local residents may practice.

 According to article No. 18, the following activities on the wall are forbidden:

Taking the bricks of Great Wall  to build stockyard is forbidden.

1. Take away earth, bricks, stones and plant crops.

2. Vandalism and graffiti

3. Span or fix any establishment, fixtures, or equipment irrelevant to the Great Wall protection.

4. Drive or span over the wall using any vehicle.

5. Carry any items that may destroy the wall.

6. Organize activities on the sections that have not been developed into tourist areas.

7. Any other activities that are forbidden by laws and regulations on protection of cultural relics.

Graffiti on the wall is forbidden.

Of the seven articles, those who conduct behaviors like the items No.3, No.4, No.5 describe will be warned by local cultural relic operating administration if the cases are minor. If circumstances are serious, individuals will be fined CNY 10,000 - CNY 50,000 and the penalty for units are CNY 50,000 - CNY 500,000. The punishment is also applicable to the tourist areas, which receive more visitors that exceed the scenic areas' capability.

Besides, those who conduct behaviors like the items No.1 and No. 6 describe will be warned by local cultural relic operating administration if the cases are minor. If circumstances are serious, individuals will be fined CNY 1000 - CNY 5000 and the penalty for units are CNY 10,000 - CNY50, 000.

 The first relevant case involved the damage of the Great Wall:

Shaanxi Great Wall in Danger

In late September 2008, Hohhot Qingshuihe County People's Court convicted five defendants who deliberately damaged the Luliangshan section of Ming's Great Wall in the first instance and committed them to one to three years' imprisonment, in addition to fines.

 

Luliangshan Ming's Great Wall is in Qingshuihe County, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. It is the precious cultural relics under the protection of the state. Within 200 meters (219 yards) on both sides is the key protection area, and a further 300 meters (328 yards) is strictly controlled for construction use. Between March to October, 2007, the five defendants used heavy machines to dig for iron ores near this section. Their excavation caused three damages to the wall, and the most serious one has badly undermined the main body structure.

 

It is learned that this is the first case concerning the act of damaging the Great Wall punished by law, and the sentence of this case has great significance to the protection of the Great Wall in accordance with the law.

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Current Situation of Great Wall

Broken Great Wall

Chinese people are proud of their over-2,000 years old Great Wall. When they set foot on the famous walls such asBadaling, they say, "Check the giant dragon!" However, these visitors rarely know that most parts of the Great Wall are not so great; they are just broken stones and bricks lying in the remote mountains, grasslands and deserts.

The Great Wall is different from other cultural relics in that it cannot be kept in museums, which presents great difficulty in protecting it. At present, almost entire sections are being left as they are. These sections, together with the surrounding farmland, once located near the borders of deserts have already been swallowed by the flowing sand. For example, sections of the wall near Maowusu Desert and Tenggeli Desert have disappeared forever. In Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Shanxi, the sections are mostly rammed-earth construction, so they are easily brushed away by the perennial affect of wind and rain. Many sections are hard to recognize without experts' instructions. The brick walls lying in Tianjin, Beijing and Hebei have little better fate. Having experienced countless winds and rains, these walls are collapsing brick by brick every day.

Besides natural influences, experts also point out that human activity is another big enemy of the Great Wall. It is a common phenomenon that many residents living near the wall take bricks or stones to build their houses. It is not surprising to see farmers dig the wall to create their sheepfold or latrine. Many walls are cut off just because they block the extension of modern highways.

In September of 2006, the Great Wall welcomed its new page in history when the Chinese State Council promulgated the Regulation on Protection of Great Wall. It regulates people's behavior on the wall. This historic and great decision brings the wall the hope to survive. So all of us must enhance our personal consciousness to protect the wall, at the same time being proud of it!

Home / Great Wall / Protection / Stories Great Wall Protection Stories and Reports View from Broken Great Wall Tower   Unprotected Great Wall  in Yulin, Shaanxi Great Wall Protection Stories and Reports: Learn from Zhang Heshan Lindsay's Story Shandan Great Wall in Danger Yulin Wall Destroyed by an Enterprise Hohhot Wall Cut off by Mine Company Henan Wall Destroyed by Wind Power Company Learn From Zhang Heshan The Great Wall extends 88.5 miles in Funing County, Qinhuangdao City in Hebei Province, and is mainly sections from the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). Zhang Heshan, an ordinary peasant who lives in Chengziyu Village near the wall, has been guarding the Great Wall for more than 20 years. From 1980, he volunteered to guard the wall, rain or shine. Every day he insists on patrolling five miles on the wall near his house and his footprints have already covered every corner of the Great Wall he protects. Many people cannot understand his behavior. "It's not his business." They think. But to Zhang Heshan, the Great Wall means a lot. He has grown up at the foot of the wall, which records many sweet memories of his childhood. Besides following the plough, he devotes himself to protecting the Great Wall the rest of the time. On seeing people carve, daub, and gather herbs on the wall, he will immediately go up to stop them and tell them the importance of protecting the wall. At first, people don't listen to them. The poor villagers can gain a lot by gathering herbs and grabbing scorpions on the wall. Zhang's interference certainly stops their source of income. Some angry villagers even took revenge on him. However, Zhang's resolution to protect the Great Wall cannot be easily torn down. He keeps patrolling and persuading. Things improved in 2003 when the Funing Government set up a system, "Great Wall Safeguard," which divided the wall into 18 sections, each of them was guarded by a local peasant. These safeguards obtain allowances from the government each year. Of course, Zhang Heshan is one of these honorable guards. Under their effort, the Great Wall in their village is the best-preserved section in Qinhuangdao City and has avoided further man-mae destruction. Local farmers dig the wall  to make their sheepfold.