According to the technician in charge of the project, “The cultural relics department decided not to use cement for restoration of the Ming Dynasty’s City Wall, out of consideration for the original aesthetics of the structure.”

“People may harbor doubts over whether such plaster will be strong enough to withstand the tough climatic conditions of the region, especially when compared with robustness of cement. After all, we are talking about an ancient technology,” the technician said, pointing to the ruins’ five storey high walls. “However, the walls have stood here for over 600 years without collapsing. We believe this provides enough proof for the plaster’s durability.”

It is reported that the ancient city walls of Beijing were initially built during the Ming Dynasty and used an adhesive made from a combination of lime and plaster to hold huge bricks together.

Before the renovation project of these city walls, technicians made scientific appraisals of this “ancient cement” to ensure that repairs to ancient walls would be robust enough while still retaining their original characteristics.

The Ming Dynasty City Wall Ruins Park has been built alongside one kilometer of ruins from Beijing’s ancient city wall and covers some 13 hectares. Beijing was once surrounded by four rings of city walls; the Forbidden City Wall, the Imperial City Wall, the Inner City Wall, and finally the Outer City Wall.

The Ruins Park project is part of an initiative to protect historical relics in the downtown Beijing area. The project has cost some US$102 million to build, a large portion of which has been used to compensate over 1,800 households in the area for temporary relocation.

(china.org.cn by Wang Qian, September 26, 2002)