REPORTING. On the construction site of the Great Wall of China, workers work on donkeys

China’s iconic monument, the Great Wall, is undergoing renovation. Work on guard tower no. 56 has just begun, respecting traditional construction methods.

In a China champion of new technologies and artificial intelligence, in the Huairou district north of Beijing, in the middle of the mountains, at the foot of the Great Wall of China, workers work on donkeys. A long restoration work is underway on this monument which is one of the best known in the world and which extends over thousands of kilometers. Subjected to erosion and mass tourism, this old line of defense is very damaged, and in some places completely destroyed.

It’s a titanic job, and one of the projects has just started. “The donkeys understand my instructions: go fast, don’t stop and head straight up the mountain. I have been doing this for more than ten years. The donkeys help carry the restoration materials for the Great Wall on paths that are very difficult to access for humans”describes one of the workers.

Here, Guard Tower No. 56 of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty is restored. At the end of the path there is a ruined site, overgrown with vegetation. Installed on a scaffolding, one of the workers Ma Yiwu explains his work: “You see these old bricks which are very damaged, I recover them, and then I put new bricks inside the wall. There, white lime is ready to fix the bricks and rebuild the wall”.

A few years ago, in the neighboring province of Liaoning, a portion of the Great Wall was covered with a thick cement screed. At the time, this concreting caused a lot of anger on social networks. The authorities have learned lessons from this unfortunate episode.

On the construction site of Tower No. 56, team leader Cheng Yongmao therefore ensures that traditional construction methods are respected. “The old bricks are almost 600 years old, they have been worn by the weather, he indicates. If they are too damaged, they are replaced with these new bricks which have been manufactured with the same raw materials and the same methods which date from Antiquity. They are made entirely by hand.”.

“One of the principles of our work is minimal intervention. And obviously, never use cement.”

Cheng Yongmao, team leader

at franceinfo

This civil servant in his sixties devoted a large part of his life to the restoration of the Great Wall: “Participating in the restoration of our national treasure is a source of pride for me, a way of transmitting the spirit of the Chinese nation. The Great Wall is inscribed in the Chinese national anthem, it is on the back of the map of ‘national identity!’

The Great Wall is a victim of erosion but also of mass tourism. Some 16 million visitors this year came to trample the old stones, with damage severely punished by the authorities. “The Yanqing district police announced that Mr. Shan carved Chinese characters with nail clippers on the Badaling Great Wall. He was placed in administrative detention. This is the eighth case since the beginning of the year in this sector of the Great Wall”it was announced in a recent Chinese television news.

In the wild sector of tower no. 56, tourism is prohibited. It is mainly the bad weather which has caused damage and the inhabitants are pleased with this restoration work, like this father Mao Jinlai. “I live at the foot of the Great Wall, specifies this man. My family has been here for many generations and our village is at least 300 years old. I’m happy to see this restoration. We must take care of the treasures left by our ancestors”.

The workers and their leader Cheng Yongmao are moving forward very slowly. In 19 years of work, they have restored 20 kilometers of Great Wall, a work which in total exceeds 21,000 kilometers.