Local farmers have severely degraded sections of the Great Wall in Northwest China's Gansu Province by incorporating it into their farms or using it as sheep pens, threatening the preservation of the historical relic.
A 90-kilometer section of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Great Wall in Jingtai has been significantly degraded since the 1970s, with only broken piles of mud bricks less than two meters in height remaining, the Lanzhou Evening News reported on Tuesday.
Local residents have used some sections to form parts of farms and sheep pens, and some parts were completely covered in weeds.
The Great Wall in Gansu was listed as a national relic protection unit in May 2006 as part of a national law, and in August 2015, it was given specific protection measures - areas within 20 meters of the wall are under protection and no construction is allowed within 50 meters, the report said.
Built from the third century BC to the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall stretches more than 21,000 kilometers from Gansu to North China's Hebei Province, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, about 30 percent of a 6,200-kilometer section of the Ming Dynasty wall has disappeared, and only less than 10 percent is considered well-preserved.
The Great Wall has faced threats from both nature and humans. Earthquakes, rain, wind and other natural elements have left the wall with many decayed and crumbling bricks, Xinhua said.
Global Times - Xinhua
