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Police images from Shanxi province: An excavator has torn a gap in the section of the wall

Photo: Youyu Police / AP

The commute to work is a daily nuisance for many people. A man and a woman from the Chinese province of Shanxi apparently resorted to drastic measures to make commuting easier. According to Chinese media reports, they dredged a path across the famous Great Wall and destroyed a section of the cultural monument.

According to the People's Daily, on August 24, the police received a tip that a section of the wall in Yangqianhe Township had been damaged. On site, the investigators found, therefore, traces of heavy equipment and a wide gap in the grassy wall. Police in Youyu County posted photos of the destroyed section of the wall online.

The traces of the excavator used would have led the police shortly afterwards to a 38-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman in a neighboring district. They then confessed to the crime and would now have to answer for it. They claimed to have widened a pre-existing gap to have a shorter commute to a construction site where they were working.

According to reports, the centuries-old section of the wall from the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) was irreparably destroyed during the action at the end of August.

The Great Wall is part of the Unesco World Heritage Site and one of China's most recognizable sights. The defensive structure consists of several parts that were built and expanded at different times. Large sections of the wall have been falling into disrepair for many years, and a few are being extensively renovated. The restored sections of the Great Wall, for example near the Chinese capital Beijing, attract numerous tourists from home and abroad every year.

The section now affected was one of the non-restored parts. In this area, the monument does not look like in tourism brochures, but like a simple, grassy stone wall. For some years now, the Chinese government has been paying more attention to protecting the remaining sections of the wall. In the case of the damaged part, the authorities speak of the great "protection and research value" of the plant.

ZOB/DPA