Gansu works to save its section of the Wall
Print Edition
Under the scorching sun Wang Jihu and dozens of local villagers are cleaning dust and mud on a section of the Great Wall in northwest China’s Gansu Province in an effort to protect the ancient cultural relic.
More than 50 villagers are building a flood prevention channel beside the wall. Stretching 88 kilometers, the section of the wall that Wang is working on was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is in Ximen Village, Shandan County.
More than 400 kilometers of the Great Wall can be found in Gansu.
Wang, 50, said he and his friends used to climb the wall in their childhood.
“We didn’t recognize the significance of the Great Wall in the past, but just played there for fun. “Things have changed, people who live around here now know it is a cultural relic and do not allow it to be damaged,” he said.
Gansu launched the flood prevention project in 2011 with an initial investment of 30 million yuan (US$4.9 million).
Two phases of the project have been completed. The third phase involves constructing a 658-meter-long support structure on either side of the wall and a 1,340-meter-long flood discharge channel.
“When this phase is completed, we don’t have to fear about the floods damaging the Great Wall anymore,” said Song Chang, director of the Culture Relics Bureau of Shandan County.
Each villager taking part in the project is being paid about 100 yuan per day, and they help out when they are not occupied on their farms. “It’s a good way to increase the villagers’ income and also protect the Great Wall,” Song added.
According to research released by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Gansu has the longest length of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty. It has the second longest length of wall built in Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-220 AD) dynasties.
Besides Gansu, walls, trenches and forts of the Great Wall have been discovered in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Ningxia.
Unlike eastern parts of the Great Wall in Beijing and Hebei, which were mostly constructed with stones and bricks, sections in Gansu were built with mud.
After centuries of erosion from fierce winds and sandstorms they have become extremely fragile.
More than 10 consolidation and flood prevention projects have been implemented across Gansu in recent years, said Xiao Xuezhi, vice director of the provincial culture heritage bureau.
Construction of the Great Wall, listed as a world cultural heritage site in 1987, began during the reign of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuang (259-210 BC), to keep out foreign invaders.
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