Local government of Beijing has taken back the right to manage the Badaling section of the Great Wall from a listed company, a move demonstrating the government's determination to fulfill its duties to safeguard and protect the world heritage site.

Badaling Special Zone Office in Yanqing County, an accredited representative of local government, will take charge of managing and protecting the 7,600-meter-long Badaling section of the Great Wall.

The office would put all the tourism income into protection of the Great Wall in the future, said Li Shuwang, deputy head of the Badaling Special Zone Management Committee, early last week.

"Beijing has set a good example in protecting the Great Wall," said Huang Yongren, head of the Academic Department of the China Great Wall Society.

The Badaling section of the Great Wall has been managed by a joint venture company, the Badaling Tourism Development Co. Ltd., since 1997. The company mainly sells entrance tickets to the Badaling section of the Great Wall, and it also controls operation of museums, restaurants and other commercial facilities inside the scenic zone.

However, the company's management confronts with China's Law on Protection of Cultural Relics, revised and took effect in 2002, and the Administrative Regulations on Protection of the Great Wall of the Beijing Municipality, becoming effective in 2003, both prohibiting any institution and individual from transferring and pawning the Great Wall to or converting Great Wall into properties of certain enterprises.

"It took us three years to take back the management right, and now we are expecting that Great Wall will be well protected in the future," said Li with the Badaling office.

The Great Wall stretches for 6,700 km, traversing Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei and Liaoning. Construction of the walls began during the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), when separate sections were built in scattered strategic areas.

Like other sites of historical interests around the world, the Great Wall is being threatened by damages caused by nature and human activities. An article carried on the latest edition of the Newsweek magazine listed the Great Wall as one of the seven endangered heritage sites in the world. The article said close to two-thirds of the Great Wall became rotten and used for commercial purposes.

"The gigantic Great Wall itself increases difficulties in protection," said Li, with the Badaling Special Zone Management Committee. The Beijing's sections of the Great Wall stretches for more than 600 km, only a small section, including the Badaling section, has opened to tourists. The remainder sections in Beijing stands on high mountains which are seldom visited by people.

"This is a fact that we must face in protecting the Great Wall," Li said.

According to China's law, cultural relics belong to the state and should be managed by departments of cultural heritage. However, the fact is that while cultural departments are performing their duties in managing cultural relics, many tourism departments and even companies also step in the management and development of sites of historical interest, including the Great Wall.

"This has hampered the implementation of China's law on protection of cultural relics," said Huang with the China Great Wall Society.

A hip-hop party held on the Beijing's Jinshanling section of the Great Wall in July last year stunned the world overnight. Some people said such activities pose potential damages to the Great Wall.

In 1997, local government leased the management right of the Jinshanling section to a company for 50 years. In 2002, the company was ordered to return the management right to the government according to the revised China's Law on Protection of Cultural Relics. The company refused and demanded a compensation of 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million). The dispute has not settled till now.

Taking back the right to manage the Badaling section of the Great Wall is of great significance in achieving a win-win situation between the development of tourism and protection of the Great Wall, said Yu Changjiang, director of Beijing Municipal Tourism Administration. "This can be used as a reference by other scenic and tourism zones elsewhere in China."

The Great Wall has been put under state key protection in China. It was put on the list of the World Heritage sites of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1987.

Following the Law on Protection of Cultural Relics, the central and local governments have promulgated a series of laws and regulations on protection of the Great Wall and cracking down on illegal activities in areas along the Wall.

Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Administration has drafted specific regulations to protect the Badaling, Juyong Pass and Simatai sections of the Great Wall.

Chinese people also have high expectations for better protection of the Great Wall. China Great Wall Society has solicited tens of thousands of suggestions from the general public for the Great Wall protection since last October.

Shan Jixiang, director of the State Cultural Heritage Administration, said improvement of concerned laws and regulations were needed to better protect the Great Wall.

He disclosed that drafting of Regulations on Protection of Great Wall was proceeding smoothly and was expected to be issued within this year.

Beijing has taken the lead in the country to define the Great Wall protection areas and places nearby for monitoring.

"The Beijing municipal government and institutions in charge of tourism development will jointly establish and fund special teams to safeguard all sections of the Great Wall in Beijing," said Yu Ping, deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2006)