As local governments try to re-acquire management rights to different sections of the Great Wall after leasing them to companies, they have the success of Yanqing County to thank.

Yanqing County in Beijing Municipality recently regained the rights to the Badaling section, a renowned scenic spot northwest of Beijing, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

In 1997, a joint venture acquired the management right to most of the Badaling section, which extends about 7.6 kilometers, and listed it on the Hong Kong market.

The management right included ticket revenue, the resources within the scenic spot and the service facilities.

However, the revised Cultural Relics Protection Law in 2002 outlawed the behavior by defining that the Great Wall may not be leased as a company asset to operate in any form.

After Yanqing County reached its agreement with the joint venture to regain the management right, Huang Yongren, director of the research department of the China Great Wall Society, told Xinhua: "This can serve as a model of the protection work to other local governments."

Huang said that though the law defined that cultural relics belonging to China and should be managed by the local government, the fact is that many tourism companies are also involved. And the Great Wall is no exception.

"The disruption in the status quo in some parts of the Great Wall as a result of the change to a market-oriented economy is now exacerbating the confrontation between protection and development of the cultural relics," Huang was quoted as saying.

But the length of the Great Wall poses considerable difficulties for its protection, he said.

About 600 kilometers of the Wall are within Beijing's jurisdiction, according to Li Shuwang, deputy director of the Badaling Management Committee.

Besides the short sections open to visitors, such as the Badaling section, other parts are located along sheer mountains and are worn out after decades of wind and water erosion.

The Great Wall, which extends more than 6,000 kilometers, was built mostly in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

A draft of a regulation solely on the protection of the Great Wall is listed as an imperative of the State Council this year, Xinhua said.

(China Daily April 14, 2006)