The Great Wall of China: Two people arrested for destroying cultural relics using an excavator

CNN
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The Chinese authorities arrested two people in northern China after they damaged a section of the Great Wall of China with an excavator.

Local police in Shanxi Province say a 38-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman have been accused of digging through the Great Wall of China to create a shortcut for construction work they are doing nearby. statement.

They allegedly widened an existing hole in the old hull into a wide gap large enough for their rig to pass through to “provide travel distance,” according to the statement.

Police said their excavation had caused “irreparable” damage to the integrity and integrity of that section of the wall.

Police in Yoyo County detained the two suspects after receiving reports of the damage on August 24. According to the statement, the case is under further investigation.

The Great Wall of China, which served as a major northern defense for successive Chinese empires, is over 20,000 km (12,427 miles) long and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Its oldest sections date back more than two thousand years and were later expanded by the ancient Chinese dynasties.

The damage occurred on a section of the wall dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), known as the Thirty-Second Great Wall. It is also home to a relatively well-preserved watchtower, and is listed among the Provincial Cultural Monuments.

In recent years, the Chinese authorities have intensified protection of the Great Wall of China and cracked down on acts of vandalism.

In 2021, the police arrested and fined three visitors for scribbling on the famous Badaling section of the wall with a sharp object.

Later that year, Chinese authorities banned two foreign tourists from entering the Great Wall of China after they trespassed on an undeveloped section of the Mutianyu section of the wall.