According to People's Daily, the Cultural Relics Bureau of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region recently fined a local infrastructure building company 500 thousand yuan (US$63 thousand) for causing disastrous damage to the Great Wall.

This reporter found on Monday that the newly built road had reduced the section of the Great Wall in its surrounding area to nothing. Senior officials from the bureau criticized such activity, and they were worried lest more and more people would destroy cultural relics for economic purposes.

The ruins of this section of the Great Wall were located in Longsheng, a remote village in the city of Fengzhen. A large beacon tower had also been destroyed.

Inner Mongolia has preserved the longest section of the Great Wall, or half of the total length of the Great Wall in China. Experts believe uncontrollable human activities in the region make Great Wall protection more and more difficult. Moreover, natural disasters like sandstorms and earthquakes also pose great threats to the Great Wall.
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(Chinanews.cn November 16, 2006)