Crumbling heritage – Pressing need to conserve undeveloped sections of Great Wall

Tourists trekking the Jiankou Great Wall

To help enforce the no-entry law, the village party committee organized a special team of Great Wall guards in 2007. “We have 19 members and 40 volunteers, all villagers. Members patrol the eight entrances on the main roads and hand out educational materials such as the ‘Great Wall Conservation Regulation,’ issued in 2006,” Chen says. “When they see tourists about to climb the wall, they try their best to stop them.”

Last year, the team successfully prevented 3,000 people from climbing the wall. But in most cases, tourists ignore the guards. “The guards  have no right to arrest those illegally climbing the wall,” Chen says.

Another problem is the lack of manpower. There are 40 kilometers of Wall in Xizhazi village, and they are monitored by only 19 full-time guards. The men receive only 100 yuan a month as allowance from the municipal Cultural Relics Bureau.

Dong Yaohui, vice president of the China Great Wall Association, cuts more to the heart of the problem: “Without effective administration measures, without a proper monitoring and punishment system, the regulations are meaningless.”