The Great Wall of China isn’t what it used to be

The Great Wall of China, one of the world’s most famous landmarks, is breaking up and in some instances has disappeared, according to a recent survey.

The survey has been undertaken by the Great Wall of China Society, and began in 2007. It has mapped the entire wall across all 15 Chinese provinces.

Almost 2,000 kilometres of the wall has disappeared, and the Society has put forward a few reasons why.

The biggest enemy is nature. Wind and rain erosion over the centuries have taken a toll.

“Even though some of the walls are built of bricks and stones, they cannot withstand the perennial exposure to wind and rain,” said Dong Yaohui, a vice president of the society.

“Many towers are becoming increasingly shaky and may collapse in a single rain storm in summer.”

Also plants have grown into the structure of the Wall in some places, accelerating the destructive work of wind and rain.

There has been some savage damage inflicted by humans. Some sections of the Great Wall have been demolished to make way for roads, and over the centuries people have taken parts of the Wall to build housing, farm walls, and animal pens.

Lastly, the wall is being ‘loved to death’, with more and more tourists making their way to visit.

In some good news, the survey found that the Great Wall is longer than previously thought. In total it is just over 21,196 kilometres long, as compared to 8,850 kilometres previously thought. The length of the wall is in sections, rather than continuous, but some of the sections do stretch for thousands of kilometres.

A total of 43,721 heritage sites have been catalogued during the survey, “including stretches of the wall, defence works and passes, as well as other related Great Wall facilities and ruins,” said Tongo Mingkang, deputy chief of China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Now that the survey has been completed, plans will be implemented to preserve what is left of the structure, and to repair some of the damage, and to educate officials in the provinces on how to best look after this important historical monument.

Have you visited the Great Wall of China? If yes, what are your stories and impressions of the man-made wonder? Is the Great Wall on your must-see list? How important do you think it is to preserve the wonders of times gone by?