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| The section of the Great Wall
that tourists are shown. |
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| What the rest of the "Great
Wall" actually looks like. |
One of the world's great
landmarks, the Great Wall of China, has lost about
two-thirds of its length after years of decay.
Around a third of the 2000-year-old structure is
merely rubble and the same amount again has completely
disappeared, reported the Beijing Daily newspaper.
Much of the destruction has been put down to
generations of farmers tearing out chunks of the wall
and using it to build homes, stables or repair fences.
The erosion is so far spread that the World Monuments
Fund has put the Great Wall on a list of the 100 most
endangered structures.
The wall is a great symbol of historical pride to
China and is famously said to be the only man made
object visible with the naked eye from space.
But in October Yang Liwei, China's first man in
space, said to popular dismay he could not see it.
Building work began on the structure in the 3rd
Century BC during the Qin dynasty and was originally
designed to keep out marauding forces.
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