Great Wall under siege by hordes of tourists

• Source: Global Times
• [08:32 November 12 2009]
• Comments

By Mark Freier

To many Chinese and foreigners the Great Wall has always been a symbol of strength and endurance. Covering over 6,000 kilometers, often in parallel stretches, it expands from the Shanhaiguan to west of Dunhuang, where the Silk Road bifurcated into the summer and winter routes.

While erosion has taken a heavy toll on the older rammed earth structures of the Western Wall, the brick-built Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) fortifications of the Eastern Wall, in particular around Beijing – the section most people associate with the Great Wall – still stand strong today.

This obviously is true for the reconstructed parts, most prominently Badaling, but also for many unreconstructed section, the "wild wall" as they were named by William Lindesay, the first foreigner to systematically explore the Great Wall.

In fact, many Ming towers, having withstood weather and war for several centuries, today still have better thermal insulation features than most Beijing apartments I have lived in. The mortar between the bricks often looks like it was just grouted a few days ago.

Yet, despite the Great Wall's apparent fortitude, it also is China's most fragile monument. A destructive combination of tourism, vandalism, and consequent erosion during the past decade has done more damage to the wild wall in the Beijing area than Mongol invaders ever could have dreamed of achieving.

The pace of destruction I have witnessed since I first started to hike the wild wall in 2001 is frightening and the most beautiful parts are seriously threatened.

Eight years ago, most of the wall parts I traversed were still pristine and on a week-long trip I would meet only a couple of people.