China counts cost of stolen bricks on the Great Wall

CHINA is to investigate the level of damage caused to the Great Wall 10 years after protection laws were introduced.

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”.

The project, which will run until October, is getting under way 10 years after China announced its “Great Wall Protection Code” after concerns that the country’s greatest historic site was being eroded.

State media reported last year that around 30 per cent of the wall has disappeared over time.

Poor villagers in Lulong county in the northern province of Hebei once knocked thick grey bricks from a section of wall in their village to build homes.

Fines of 5,000 yuan (£571) are imposed for taking bricks out of the Great Wall, state media had previously reported.

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 13,000 miles in total. Construction began in the third century BC.

“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 Li Yingnian, a local culture official, according to Xinhua state news agency.

The checks will be carried out over the 15 provinces and regions through which the wall passes.