NW China province steps up efforts to protect Great Wall

Workers rennovate a part of the Great Wall near the Jiayuguan Fort in China's northwestern Gansu province on May 15, 2013. The fort marks the first pass at the west end of China's Great Wall, and is thougt to have been built in the Ming dynasty around 1372. One of the most intact passes on the Great Wall, the fort once signified the furthest reach of China, beyond which lay the Gobi desert and the plains of central Asia. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones

LANZHOU, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Gansu Province will initiate a conservation plan for the Great Wall, according to the Gansu Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage.

"The conservation plan has been worked out and preparations for a national park management system to protect the Great Wall sections in Gansu are underway," Ma Yuping, director of the administration, said Sunday.

The Gansu section of the Great Wall measures 3,654 km, ranking second in the country in length, with resources of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Great Wall ranking first in the country.

Jiayuguan Pass, located 6 km southwest of Jiayuguan in Gansu, makes up the Great Wall's western end, which stretches to the eastern end at Shanhaiguan Pass on the shores of north China's Bohai Bay.

Gansu has invested a total of 600 million yuan (89.76 million U.S. dollars) on more than 30 Great Wall protection projects in recent years, according to the administration.

The projects involve emergency rescue and reinforcement of the Great Wall itself as well as maintenance and repair of flood control and drainage facilities around the relic sites.

The repair and protection work of Jiayuguan Pass is the largest among the projects, Ma added.

Construction on Jiayuguan Pass began in 1372 and was completed in 1540. It was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.

The Gansu section of the Great Wall for the planned national park is expected to include three exhibition gardens to display the ramming technology in the construction of the Great Wall in northwest China, the history of the ancient Silk Road, and the culture of the Great Wall.