< Fixing the Great Wall

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STEVE INSKEEP, host:

The Great Wall of China has survived assaults by Mongols, Manchus and Chairman Mao, and now it's being threatened by modernization. The wall is one of China's main tourist attractions for foreigners and the new Chinese middle class. Tourism means commercial development near the wall which is raising concerns as NPR's Rob Gifford reports.

ROB GIFFORD reporting:

Walls have been built in northern China to keep out the horsemen of the north for thousands of years, but most of the wall that we now know as the Great Wall of China was built in the Ming Dynasty between 1368 and 1644. When the Ming fell, the wall gradually fell into disrepair, too. Chairman Mao urged his fanatical Red Guards to attack anything old and that included the Great Wall, but it only really re-emerged on the Western radar screen when Richard Nixon visited in 1972 and proclaimed it really is a Great Wall.

Hello. Hello. (Chinese spoken)

Unidentified Woman #1: (Chinese spoken) Hello?

GIFFORD: Hi.

Unidentified Woman #1: Hello.

GIFFORD: Well, things really have changed a lot since Richard Nixon was here more than 30 years ago. Most noticeable, of course, is that there was no capitalism then. Now, though, capitalism is here with a vengeance. There are rows and rows of little stores here selling everything you can imagine: hats, T-shirts, Great Wall souvenirs of every kind.

(Chinese spoken)

Unidentified Woman #1: (Chinese spoken)

GIFFORD: (Chinese spoken)

Unidentified Woman #1: (Chinese spoken)

GIFFORD: (Chinese spoken)

Unidentified Woman #1: (Chinese spoken)

GIFFORD: Eight dollars for an `I Climbed the Great Wall' sweatshirt. I have to say it's all rather cheesy.

(Soundbite of music)

Unidentified Woman #2: (Singing in Chinese)

GIFFORD: The tackiness is not confined to stores selling souvenirs. Restaurants blare out pop music; karaoke bars, camel rides, cable cars, flashing lights, huge signs draped along the ramparts of the wall itself, all part of what some complain is the attack of modernization, serving what in the summer amounts to more than 100,000 visitors every day.

Well, there are parts of the Great Wall that as the visitor I think you feel really torn about because you kind of know that they probably shouldn't be developed like this. But on the other hand, they're a huge amount of fun, and the classic case is the toboggan ride here at Mutianyu. It's a massive steel slide.

(Chinese spoken)

Unidentified Man: (Chinese spoken)

GIFFORD: (Chinese spoken) So 1.5 kilometers. That's about a mile down to the bottom.

Unidentified Man: (Chinese spoken)

GIFFORD: Lean into the curve. (Chinese spoken)

Unidentified Man: (Chinese spoken)

GIFFORD: OK. Pull back to brake. Here we go. Oou, baby. (Laughs) Here goes. Well, unknown to most historians, this is, in fact, the way that Genghis Khan and the Mongol hordes invaded China in the 13th century. Woo-hoo.

Mr. WILLIAM LINDESAY (Author): The attack is not coming from the north, not coming from the barbarian side. It's coming from the civilized side.

GIFFORD: William Lindesay is an Englishman who fell in love with the Great Wall in the 1980s and has lived in its shadow ever since. He's formed an organization called International Friends of the Great Wall aimed at preserving the mighty edifice from overdevelopment.

Mr. LINDESAY: The Chinese people have become wealthier, happier, freer than they've ever been before. This is all good, but there is a negative impact. Urban areas are expanding, historical sites. If they're not getting destroyed physically, they're getting their soul destroyed by the juxtaposition of the noise and the bright advertising.

GIFFORD: Lindesay's group works with the Chinese government for more effective preservation of the wall. He organizes garbage cleanups and conducts public awareness campaigns with the Chinese public. He says it's not just overdevelopment that's taking its toll. At the other end of the spectrum, neglect is a huge problem. Beyond the tourist points, there are hundreds, thousands of miles of what Lindesay calls wild wall that's crumbling. Hikers, as well as local farmers, are now damaging the wild wall, he says, while local governments across several provinces have other, more urgent priorities to deal with.

Mr. LINDESAY: Unless we have a real structure, lots of experts from various disciplines, government funding, corporate funding, laws and the implementation of laws, then a lot of wall is going to be lost.

GIFFORD: As China rushes into its future focusing on economic development, it's in danger of neglecting perhaps the most important symbol of its past.

Rob Gifford, NPR News, Beijing.

INSKEEP: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.

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