The Great Wall, one of the most iconic structures in the world, is more or less the symbol of China. Due to its history and beauty, it also attracts a great number of tourists each year. (Photo : Getty Images)
If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes one also to rebuild a century-old structure.
Businessman Xu Guohua spearheads the reconstruction of a section of the Great Wall in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, according to the Global Times.
Xu, a former owner of coal mines and now in the tourism business, has employed villagers to do the work in Banchangyu.
The size of the original brick was followed.
Some 8,850 km of the Great Wall were built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Some 25 km of that is in the town of Banchangyu in Zhucaoying Village, Funing District.
The report also said that Xu’s efforts led to some fascinating archeological finds. The villagers discovered fossils of the spotted hyena and hundred-year-old kilns.
Bjorn Kurtén (1924-1988), a Finnish vertebrate paleontologist, wrote in his book, “Pleistocene Mammals of Europe,” published in 1968, that the spotted hyena or cave hyena “is one of the best-known fossil mammals of the Ice Age” that appeared in China.
When the Ice Age ended, so is the existence of the spotted hyena in China, according to Kurtén.
UNESCO inscribed the Great Wall as a World Heritage Site in 1987.
The once mighty fortification--many of its sections have long been gone or in ruins--is still a marvel to behold, attracting throngs of local and international tourists every year.
A third of the Great Wall “has crumbled to dust,” according to the National Public Radio.
To be more precise, CNN reported in 2015 that about 2,000 km of the architectural feat has disappeared over the years because of man-made causes and natural erosion.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage announced in June 2012 that the ancient bulwark measures 21,196.18 km (13,170.69 miles), reported Daily Mail.
According to the report, it took five years to complete the architectural survey of the Great Wall.
