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Great Wall overrun, damaged, Disneyfied

BEIJING -- Archaeologists last week announced the discovery of a new section of the Great Wall of China near the Mongolian border—the northernmost segment ever found.

But what's most noticeable about the wall today is not what's reappearing but what's vanishing.

After decades of government neglect and intentional destruction, the Great Wall is by turns crumbling, Disneyfied, and riddled with relatively new gaps you could literally drive a truck through.

Now, a new national law aims to protect the national treasure, though the first penalties have been relatively mild.

Thirty percent of the Great Wall is in ruins, and another 20 percent is in"reasonable" condition, according to a survey of a hundred sections of the wall carried out last June by the Great Wall Society of China.

The remaining 50 percent has already disappeared.

Related Links

  • International Friends of the Great Wall
  • Read entire article at National Geographic News