Ancient Wonder, Modern Challenge(Great Wall Of China)<3>

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA
ICON—WORLD MONUMENTS MAGAZINE
BY WILLIAM LINDESAY

Having defended China for more than two millennia, the last of the Great Wall, like its predecessors, was eventually abandoned, this time in the wake of the Manchu invasion of 1644. Today, 359 years since construction ceased, the Great Wall is a mere shadow of its former self. Over the centuries, various forces, both natural and man-made, have conspired to alter, damage, and destroy it, leaving an estimated 4,500 kilometers—or two-thirds—of its original structure standing. What remains of the wall presents one of the world's great conservation challenges.

As soon as the Ming Dynasty collapsed, the military looted the wall for the best pickings, removing wooden doors and shutters of towers, fine carvings, and engraved slabs of stone. Nature, too, has done its past. Winds have deposited sand on the pavement of the wall. Bird droppings containing seed soon colonized the pavement with plants—weeds at first, then bushes and small trees. Roots have loosened masonry, and once-a-century earthquakes have struck and toppled sections of the wall. Arches have weakened and collapsed, and towers have cracked. Winter freeze-thaw cycles have gradually forced slabs of rock apart. Summer rains have washed away loose mortar. A wilderness wall, or wild wall, has evolved.

To protect something fully, one must first define its boundaries. It is important to understand that the wall and its surroundings are archaeologically inseparable, united in a consanguineous relationship. The land beside the wall and in view of the wall is where stones were quarried, where bricks were baked, where clay was dug, where trees were felled to fuel kilns, and where the wall builders lived and worked. In essence, the wall is a reflection of the very land from which it was created. Following the abandonment of the Ming Wall, it is quite likely that many of those who built, guarded, and maintained it remained, living in its shadow as ordinary farmers. It also follows that the modern inhabitants of wall-side villages are descendants of the ancient wall builders. Sometimes this can be verified: for example, bricks sometimes bear cartouches that record the provincial military construction unit, and these often match with the location of villagers' ancestral homes. In mountain areas, village buildings themselves might also be considered part of the landscape, as many were wrought of material removed from the wall during the destructive revolutionary campaigns of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1959) and Cultural Revolution (1966-1977), when Chairman Mao Zedong urged people to "let the past serve the present" and "smash the four olds by sweeping away the dust of all the old ideas, culture, customs, and habits of the exploiting classes."

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