AKIPRESS.COM - China is to investigate the level of damage caused to the Great Wall ten years after protection laws were introduced, said The Telegraph.
The campaign was launched after tourism and the theft of bricks to build houses have turned about a third of the UNESCO site into rubble.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage will form inspection groups to investigate the conservation situation of the Great Wall in each province, according to a notice on the body’s website.
The project, which lasts until October, comes ten years after China launched its so-called Great Wall Protection Code following concerns that the country’s greatest historic site was being eroded.
Further laws were introduced, but state media reported last year that around 30 percent of the wall has disappeared over time.
Poor villagers in Lulong county in the northern province of Hebei used to knock thick gray bricks from a section of wall in their village to build homes.
Fines of 5,000 yuan (around US$750) are handed out for taking Great Wall bricks.
The Great Wall is not a single unbroken structure, but stretches for thousands of miles in sections, from the east coast to the edge of the Gobi desert. It is estimated to extend to 21,000 kilometers in total.
Construction began in the 3rd century BC, but nearly 6,300 kilometers were built in the Ming Dynasty of 1368-1644, including the much-visited sectors north of the capital Beijing.
"We need to invest more resources and money to conserve the Great Wall, particularly in those areas which have not been developed and are unable to make a profit [from tourism],” said local culture official Li Yingnian.
The checks will be carried out over the 15 provinces and regions that the wall passes through.