Posted on 02/10/2005 4:09:28 PM PST by wagglebee
ROAD builders demolished a large section of China's World Heritage-listed Great Wall last month in an indication of the perilous state of one of the world's best known landmarks, state media said today.
Almost 100m of the wall in northern Ningxia autonomous region was levelled in two overnight raids by construction workers who used the material to pave a road, the Ningxia Daily said.
The destroyed area near Zhongwei city was constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in an region known as "the Great Wall Museum" because of the profusion of rammed earth sections of the wall.
Less than 2500km remain of the 6300km long wall that was first built in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC).
It was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty to keep out northern tribes threatening the Chinese heartland.
Zhongwei's public security bureau is investigating the case and has vowed that those responsible will be forced to rebuild what they demolished, the report said.
It is not the first time the wall has been plundered for building materials in Nixgxia. Last year, a 400m section disappeared with the culprits never found.
Dong Yaohui, vice president of the China Great Wall Academy, said punishments were too lax and needed to be tightened.
He was quoted as saying that several years ago a man who plundered the wall only received an 80,000 yuan ($12,553) fine, amounting to less than it would have cost to buy legal construction materials, proving no deterrent.
The Great Wall is under such serious threat from human development across China that the central government last year took the drastic step of seizing control of it from local governments.
At present, the responsibility of protecting the wall, which stretches across several provinces and municipalities, is down to different local authorities.
The wall was listed on the United Nations' prestigious World Heritage List in 1987, but far from ensuring its preservation critics argue that it has only succeeded in shrouding it in a "false cloak of security".
hahahahahahahahahaha. Look how economically viable communism is. They have to tear down landmarks to pave roads rofl.
ouch....
No "Home Depots" in China, I guess.
The Mongols finally have an in! Look out Forbidden Palace...It's Kublai Khan Redux!
The stuff on TV is maintained for show near Beijing.
Time the rebuild the wall and then fill it all with water.... tsk tsk
I believe that the giant carved Buddha statues in Afghanistan were on the same list, but nobody seemed to care when the Taliban blew it up several years ago.
Good. Demolish the whole thing.
FMCDH(BITS)
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The Rhine River blog [Landscape, Region and History.] ^ | Feb 6, 2005 | Nathanael
Posted on 02/11/2005 6:42:45 AM PST by Mike Fieschko
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1341054/posts
The bodies of those who died building it are said to be buried in it. I wonder if they came across any?
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