China to conduct high-tech survey on Great Wall
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-03-16 11:15

China will embark on a high-tech field survey of the Great Wall as part of an ambitious plan to protect the mammoth millennium-old structure from further damage, state media said.

A view of part of the Great Wall. China will embark on a high-tech field survey of the Great Wall as part of an ambitious plan to protect the mammoth millennium-old structure from further damage. [AFP]

The two-year project, using laser range finders and global positioning systems, is being billed as the most extensive and thorough survey of the Great Wall to ever be conducted.

"Setting up a full and accurate document for the Great Wall is extremely important as it is the fundamental step towards preserving it," the China Daily quoted heritage expert Luo Zhewen as saying.

Apart from environmental erosion, mass tourism and vandalism have also taken a heavy toll on the Great Wall, with many people carving their names and other graffiti on its bricks.

Local farmers also often nail iron ladders into the ancient structure, permitting tourists to get access to a "wild" wall section for a fee.

The field survey is part of a 10-year Great Wall Protection Project launched last month, according to Chai Xiaoming, vice director of the Heritage Protection Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

"We will not only have a clear and complete picture of the current conditions of the Great Wall and its landscape, but will also have a basic legal framework for its protection," Chai said.

It will help to establish more preservation areas and buffer zones so that construction near the Great Wall will be limited.

Less than 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) remain of the original 6,300-kilometer structure that was first built in the Qin Dynasty (221 to 206 BC).

It was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 AD) to keep out northern nomadic tribes threatening the Chinese heartland.