China launches inquiry into botched Great Wall repair job

The Chinese government has said it will investigate a crude repair job on an 8km stretch of the centuries-old Great Wall, transforming it into what looks like a raised pathway or bicycle lane.

“The repairs really don’t look good,” said Ding Hui, director of the bureau of cultural relics for Liaoning province, where the 635-year-old section of the Great Wall is located.

The government watchdog responsible for monitoring the Great Wall, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said in a statement that it would release its investigation findings. Those responsible for any damage will be held accountable, it said.

The repairs were ordered after an official survey showed the section of wall at Suizhong was in danger of collapsing and being washed away by the rain. The restorers say they didn’t use cement, but rather a mixture of sand and lime.

"The repairs took place in 2014," said Mr Ding. "This part of the Great Wall has 700 years of history, very original and wild. And it has a beautiful forest view."

China does not have hang-ups with authenticity when it comes to restoring historical sites, and restorers are known for prettifying sites rather than focusing on historical accuracy.

But the hashed efforts at Suizhong are so bad they have raised hackles among government restoration cadres.

The repairs filled in gaps in the structure and added a smooth, pavement-like protective layer on top “like a hat”. But Mr Ding conceded that “the surface does not look ideal”.

The controversially restored section is in one of the most beautiful “wild” sections of wall.

The Great Wall, more than 20 centuries old, once stretched for thousands of kilometres – some estimate there was 20,000km of wall all told – through China, from Gansu in the west to the city of Shanhaiguan in the east, where it just reaches the Bohai Sea.

Construction on the Great Wall first begun in the third century BC. Nearly 6,300km was built in the Ming Dynasty of 1368-1644, including the controversial Suizhong section, which was built in 1381.

The Great Wall has never actually been used to withstand an attack; Legend has it that Genghis Khan bribed his way past the guards to get into China.

Disappeared wall

The Chinese government has very specific regulations on the preservation of the Great Wall, which is crumbling in many remote locations. About 30 per cent of the wall has disappeared over time because of vegetation growth, adverse weather and human activity, such as stealing bricks to build houses.

Under Chinese regulations, people who take bricks from the Great Wall can be fined up to 5,000 yuan (€668).

The repair job has prompted online scorn. One web commentator wrote: “I’m glad Venus de Milo was not born in China, or else they would have given her arm back.”