The Great Wall Crumbles

by Iva Skoch on

Following up on my recent blog regarding construction crews taking a bite out of the Great Wall of China, here’s an interesting piece from the NY Times about folks who are trying to preserve the Wall.

An official at the Great Wall Society thinks that most of the damage to the Wall was probably done in the 1950s and 1960s, since Mao encouraged farmers to use bricks from the Wall to build homes. A reservoir outside Beijing was built with bricks from the Wall.

Now, however, visits by millions of tourists are taking a toll too. One site near Beijing alone counted 4.5 million visitors last year.

New national regulations, effective December 1, will, hopefully, help to protect what remains.

Mr. Hu: Do NOT Tear That Wall Down!

by Iva Skoch on

Interesting news keeps flowing out of China, so we’ll keep relaying it. It turns out that a private contractor was building a new road, which destroyed a section of the Great Wall of China, as well as a large beacon tower.

The fine on the contractor, from the Cultural Relics Bureau of Inner Mongolia, was a tiny 500,000 yuan ($63,000 USD), for the destruction.

This took place in the Inner Mongolian village of Longsheng, near Fengzhen, north-west of Beijing.

I guess they figured they still have 4500 more miles of the Wall left.

Panda Spotting Becomes Easier

by Iva Skoch on

It just got a little bit easier to see Giant Pandas–there are more of them. The Chinese government reports that 2006 has been a banner year for panda cubs. According to China Daily, the government’s official English language newspaper, artificial insemination done at panda breeding centers around China has produced a record 27 healthy cubs, out of 30 born live. Scientists first started breeding them in 1960.

Only 1,590 are thought to live in the wild, while another 180 live in zoos or breeding centers worldwide.

We traveled to the Chengdu’s breeding facility last year, which is just outside the city of Chengdu, right in the center of China. It’s a beautiful park, and well worth the visit. If you choose to travel to see the pandas, be sure to also read up on the much larger Wolong Nature Preserve, further north of Chengdu. And don’t forget to sample the wonderful food of the Sichuan region!

Photo of the Day (October 23, 2006)

by Iva Skoch on

Following on my post about the Li River, near Yangshuo, China, here’s a shot I took from the kayak. The rain had just finished, but we could hear thunder in the distance. The river was moving swiftly, carrying us past this “commuter.”

Photo of the Day (October 16, 2006)

by Iva Skoch on

Step right up! Get your daily news here. This is a typical street scene from rural China (here: Guilin). Every morning, copies of the state-controlled newspapers are tacked up to boards around the cities. They draw a crowd. We never got a satisfactory answer as to why folks didn’t just buy the paper, rather than queuing up to read. I guess they like the company.