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

By Liang Meilan

Climbing the Great Wall is a must for Beijing tourists. Most choose to visit crowded sections like Badaling and Mutianyu. Others who want a more breathtaking experience risk the dangers of the undeveloped portions of the Wall — areas banned to visitors by law. Adventurous tourists and photographers call these sections the “Wild Great Wall.” 

Due to poor law enforcement and lack of awareness of the need to preserve cultural relics, these undeveloped areas like the Huanghualing and Jiankou Great Walls are crumbling and crying out for help.

William Lindsay

Call of the wild

According to the Municipal Cultural Relics Census, 600 kilometers of the Wall’s 629 kilometers in Beijing form part of the “Wild Great Wall.”

Unlike the restored Badaling Great Wall, the wild sections boast  steep slopes and majestic scenery that attract tens of thousands of tourists who want a more “authentic” experience. The Huanghuacheng Great Wall, in Huairou District, alone sees 300,000 visitors each year.

Jiankou Great Wall, also  in Huairou, is popular among trekkers for its scenic route and its dangerous slopes, one of which is the “Sky Stairs” stair-like outcropping at an angle of 70 to 80 degrees. The stairs are so narrow it is extremely difficult to get a foothold.

“The average slope angle is 75 degrees and you have to grip using both your hands and feet,” says Chen Yujiang, head of Xianzhi village where Jiankou is located. “People without professional climbing equipment won’t be able to conquer it.”
The difficulty is as much a challenge as a detriment, laws be damned.

Zhang Yu, a Beijing adventurer, has been to Jiankou five times and cannot seem to get enough of the place. “It is common knowledge that the ‘Wild Great Wall’ sections are ideal places for excursions, climbing and shooting photos,” he says.
 
“My friends and I make plans every year to go trekking and camping on the Jiankou Great Wall. We don’t need to bring much since we can get food and drinks and everything else we need at the stores at the foot of the Wall.”

People living around the Wall’s undeveloped sections have taken advantage of “illegal tourists” by opening restaurants, hotels and gardens. Some villagers even help visitors scale the wall by renting out ladders for 10 yuan.

“These facilities add to the temptation of climbing the ‘Wild Great Wall.’” says Kong Fanzhi, deputy director of the Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, “So, many people still come even though they have been warned it is unlawful.”