Punishment not enough to protect Great Wall

There's bad news for relic lovers. In a shocking incident, two suspects dug through a part of the Great Wall in Youyu county, Shanxi province, with an excavator. The reason? They were "taking a shortcut to their construction site".

Dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), this stretch of the Great Wall in Youyu has survived warfare since it was built. However, one excavator is all it took to wipe it out. Reports say the two suspects have been detained and await criminal charges.

This rings the alarm bells for the protection of the Great Wall. Unlike small relic items, the Great Wall is spread across thousands of kilometers in the wild, making it vulnerable. A company in Baoding, Hebei province, was ordered to pay more than 1.7 million yuan ($232,648) in compensation for damaging part of the Great Wall in 2021, while another company in Kelan county, Shanxi, damaged hundreds of meters of the wall in 2022.

The historic and research value of the Great Wall in the wild is not inferior to that of any relic. The structures carry important information about ancient dynasties that gets lost for posterity when destroyed.

Until a bulletproof glass big enough to secure the Great Wall is invented, it might be worth applying technology to the hilt for its protection.

For example, more cameras can be installed in various parts of the Great Wall so that each part is monitored. Cultural relic protection departments can fly more drones for surveillance; residents living near the Great Wall can be recruited as volunteers to inspect it.

All these efforts will help minimize damage to China's landmark offering to the world. After all, neither compensation nor punishing the culprits can bring back heritage once it is lost.