According to People's Daily, the Cultural Relics Bureau of Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region recently fined a local infrastructure
building company 500 thousand yuan (US$63 thousand) for causing
disastrous damage to the Great Wall.
This reporter found on Monday that the newly built road had
reduced the section of the Great Wall in its surrounding area to
nothing. Senior officials from the bureau criticized such activity,
and they were worried lest more and more people would destroy
cultural relics for economic purposes.
The ruins of this section of the Great Wall were located in
Longsheng, a remote village in the city of Fengzhen. A large beacon
tower had also been destroyed.
Inner Mongolia has preserved the longest section of the Great
Wall, or half of the total length of the Great Wall in China.
Experts believe uncontrollable human activities in the region make
Great Wall protection more and more difficult. Moreover, natural
disasters like sandstorms and earthquakes also pose great threats
to the Great Wall.
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(Chinanews.cn November 16, 2006)