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The Great Wall Of China Is Falling Apart. The Reason? Wind, Rain, And People Stealing Its Bricks!
Indiatimes ^ | June 30, 2015 | AFP

Posted on 07/03/2015 12:01:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Construction first begun in the third century BC, but nearly 6,300 kilometres were built in the Ming Dynasty of 1368-1644, including the much-visited sectors north of the capital Beijing. Of that, 1,962 kilometres has withered away over the centuries, the Beijing Times reported.

Some of the construction weathered away, while plants growing in the walls have accelerated the decay, said the report Sunday, citing a survey last year by the Great Wall of China Society. "Even though some of the walls are built of bricks and stones, they cannot withstand the perennial exposure to wind and rain," the paper quoted Dong Yaohui, a vice president of the society, as saying. "Many towers are becoming increasingly shaky and may collapse in a single rain storm in summer." Tourism and local residents' activities are also damaging the longest human construction in the world, the paper added.

Poor villagers in Lulong county in the northern province of Hebei used to knock thick grey bricks from a section of wall in their village to build homes, and slabs engraved with Chinese characters were sold for 30 yuan ($4.80) each by local residents, it said. Under Chinese regulations people who take bricks from the Great Wall can be fined up to 5,000 yuan, the state-run Global Times said Monday. "But there is no specific organisation to enforce the rules. Damage could only be reported to higher authorities and it is hard to solve when it happened on the border of two provinces," said Jia Hailin, a cultural relics protection official in Hebei, according to the report. It added that explorations of undeveloped parts of the Great Wall -- an increasingly popular leisure activity in recent years -- had brought those sections more tourists than they could bear, damaging them severely.

(Excerpt) Read more at indiatimes.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: china; godsgravesglyphs; greatwall; greatwallofchina; marcopolo; mingdynasty
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To: SunkenCiv

I loves my BBQ pit! These bricks hold heat for hours. As an added benefit, it even repels barbarians!


21 posted on 07/03/2015 12:36:47 PM PDT by davius (You can roll manure in powdered sugar but that don't make it a jelly doughnut.)
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To: South40

Well, Mitt could be counted on to take the leftmost position. Trump might. So yea. Chaos is the greater of the evils because you just don’t know WHAT he’d do. Lex Luthor vs. the Joker.


22 posted on 07/03/2015 12:38:49 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: M Kehoe

Sorry, 7.62 short.

I A lways K now that the gift will keep giving.


23 posted on 07/03/2015 1:07:14 PM PDT by WKTimpco
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To: SunkenCiv

So basically nature?


24 posted on 07/03/2015 1:46:57 PM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: VanDeKoik

The bricks are made out of mud held together with, I believe, rice starch.


25 posted on 07/03/2015 1:50:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW)
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To: WKTimpco

Thanks WKTimpco!


26 posted on 07/03/2015 1:51:44 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW)
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To: SunkenCiv

Government, is there anything it can’t ruin?


27 posted on 07/04/2015 1:11:37 PM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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Just an update.

28 posted on 01/08/2024 10:48:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Politics do not make strange bedfellows, and the enemy of your enemy may still be your enemy.)
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To: M Kehoe

If too much of it is removed, would that make it the not so great wall?


29 posted on 01/08/2024 10:54:29 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (“History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes” - Possibly Mark Twain.)
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To: WKTimpco
Instead of buying bricks for building their homes, the Chinese are using the bricks made thousands of years ago by their ancestors to build the Great Wall, thereby ruining a precious national historical monument. This is easily in fitting with the national character, sad to say. These farmers know what they are doing and they just don’t care about anything but saving a buck today.

When spiritual values are destroyed this is what you have left... It's sad.

30 posted on 01/10/2024 3:00:17 PM PST by GOPJ (FoxNews Lawrence Jones needs to visit Black, Hispanic and Asian breakfast places too.Let's get real)
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