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The Great Wall News
New forests fend off desert encroachment at Great Wall
Northwest China's Shaanxi Province has been successful in fending off desert encroachment with afforestation near the ruins of the Great Wall...
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700-km-long Great Wall found in NW China
More than 700 km of ancient Great Wall has been discovered in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, as a result of the third national survey on cultural relics started in April, 2007...
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Parts of Great Wall still to be found
The oldest sections of the Great Wall in the Beijing area - parts built around 1,500 years ago - should be getting more attention...
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Great Wall threatened by green fields
Updated: 2008-01-08 07:13
The Great Wall in Shandan County, Gansu Province, is made of mud. Even so, it is truly spectacular and despite centuries of weathering, it is unbroken for some 80 km.
Irrigation near the Great Wall in Shandan county, Gansu Province, is causing subsidence. Piao Tiejun
It was here, in 1987, that I was seduced into thinking that following the Wall on foot across China was going to be straightforward.
On my return I looked around Xiakou, once an important town on the Silk Road, now gearing up for tourism. I climbed a nearby hill for a view of the town and saw a new street lined with gray, concrete buildings that sported mock battlements. It was built recently for tourists, I was told.
Later, we drove north along the wall and eventually came to Changchengkou, which means "hole in the long wall".
In 1987 it had been a narrow opening, today it is much wider as National Highway No 312 goes through it. Juggernauts rumbled by, just meters away from one of the tallest watchtowers on this entire section.
We parked the jeep and took a walk, only to find that there were green fields where previously there was the Gobi Desert.
Fertile topsoil had been brought in, permitting crop cultivation immediately beside the Wall. At first I thought this was good news, but later discovered that heavy irrigation was undermining the Wall's foundations.
The Wall was sinking and I do not have to be a structural engineer to predict that if cultivation continues much longer, the Wall, on this section, will eventually crumble.
Saving Shandan's Great Wall is a must to maintain the Wall's continuity. If something is not done soon, we will be losing hundreds of meters of Wall a year.
It won't be long before tourists in Shandan may have to make do with new attractions in stone and concrete, instead of marveling at the serpentine construction of mud that is currently snaking its way across the desert.(China Daily 01/08/2008 page6)
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Greatwallchina.info is a web-based platform and community for the people who intend to learn, talk and find out more about the Great Wall of China - a construction feat first built 2200 years ago.