The Great Wall
of China
is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and
other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the
historical northern borders of China to protect the Chinese states and empires
against the raids and invasions of the various nomadic groups of the Eurasian
Steppe. Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls,
allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road,
regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and
emigration. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies,
has concluded that the Ming walls measure 8,850 km (5,500 mi).
That is a
thing of the past - people are shocked
by a report in a Chinese newspaper that nearly one third of the GreatWall has
disappeared due to natural erosion, destruction by humans and a lack
of protection.According to the report by Beijing Times, only around 8
percent of the Great Wall built inMing dynasty is well-preserved. Human
destruction, illegal trade or the practice of stealingbricks from the Great
Wall have threatened the conservation of the heritage.In Lulong county, north
China’s Hebei province, some special bricks that have cavedChinese characters
on the Great Wall are sold by local villagers at a low price of 30 yuan(around
5 dollars) per piece, according to the report.Under Chinese regulations, people
who take bricks from the Great Wall can be fined up to ¥5,000, according to the
state-run Global Times. But there is no
Organsiation to enforce the rules.
"Even though some of the walls are built of bricks and stones, they
cannot withstand the perennial exposure to wind and rain," the paper
quoted, a vice president of the society, as saying.
The report has triggered
debates. Some say that local governments
along the Great Wall do not have enoughmoney and manpower to protect scores of
kilometers or even hundreds of kilometersofthe Great Wall, therefore,
protecting parts of the heritage is reasonable. It is so dilapidated in places
that estimates of its total length vary from 9,000 to 21,000 kilometres,
depending on whether missing sections are included. Despite
its length, it is not, as is sometimes claimed, visible from space.Tourism
and local residents’ activities are also damaging the longest human
construction in the world, the paper added.
It added that explorations
of undeveloped parts of the Great Wall -- an increasingly popular leisure
activity in recent years -- had brought those sections more tourists than they
could bear, damaging them severely.Some of the construction weathered away, while
plants growing in the walls have accelerated the decay , said the report citing
a survey last year by the Great Wall of China Society.
In
a rib tickling comedy vaigaipuyal Vadivelu would go to a Police station seeking
to lodge a complaint of theft of a well. Yes the ‘agricultural well’. He would
state that he took a bank loan for digging a well and planned to provide
drinking water to the residents of nearby villages and provide water for
irrigation. In his defence, he would state that for loan, the bank officials
had visited, made a report and then approved loan. On the Govt. side, he would
claim that Govt officials had issued receipt approving the well – all this done
by taking bribes and without physically inspecting the site / property at all -
thus he would say he has the receipt and would go to the Collector or to Court
for filing a suit, if the FIR for missing well was not registered. The stunned
Police Inspector would resign his job and run away in the comedy. ~and perhaps
there needs to be a complaint for the missing wall too !
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
30th June 2015.
