Did anyone else read this in the paper?!

Hannah_Alumni
Hannah_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,866 Championing
edited September 2023 in Coffee lounge

"Builders demolish section of Great Wall of China to create shortcut to work"

I couldn't believe it when I read that headline in the Telegraph. 

According to reports, builders in China were seeking to create a shortcut to work and decided to smash a hole through an existing break in the Great Wall of China.

A 38 year old man and a 55 year old man have been detained by police and confessed to widening the existing break in the wall to get their digger through. 
The police said the builders’ actions had caused “irreversible damage to the integrity of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall and the safety of cultural relics.”
I am honestly just very shocked reading this. Considered one of the wonders of the world and they destroy a part of it.

It has created a lot of discussion and questions on social media. Mainly surrounding better protections and if these wonders of the world will be around in the next 100 years. 

What are your thoughts?

Comments

  • WelshBlue
    WelshBlue Online Community Member Posts: 770 Championing
    My first thoughts when I read it yesterday ... I feel sorry for them.  China not exactly known for their humanitarian approach to crime.  They deserve to be punished but let's hope it's not too barbaric

    Reading other articles it's awful how much other damage has been done to the wall, through human and nature, with only now China taking care of it seriously
  • rebel11
    rebel11 Online Community Member Posts: 1,687 Pioneering
    edited September 2023
    Yes, read it yesterday morning. I think they are in 'Big Trouble'. 

    Surely they must have known of it's 'historical' significance, yes others have 'vandalized' it over the centuries, but still it's 'shocking'.  
  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,717 Championing
    edited September 2023
    While the Great Wall is much older and far more unique, it reminds me of the Crooked pub demolition a bit ago.

    Many people in this world don't care about our history, or put their own needs ahead of it. It's a real shame, I am glad there are laws against it. 
  • rebel11
    rebel11 Online Community Member Posts: 1,687 Pioneering
    edited September 2023
    @Hannah_Scope

    I'd order them to use 'Polyfilla', make sure they apply a top coat etc to fix it. They are so lucky I'm not a Judge.  :o  
  • WelshBlue
    WelshBlue Online Community Member Posts: 770 Championing
    rebel11 said:
    @Hannah_Scope

    I'd order them to use 'Polyfilla', make sure they apply a top coat etc to fix it. They are so lucky I'm not a Judge.  :o  
    Be kind ... at least make them use Toupret filler - far superior and easier to work with and sand  :p
  • rebel11
    rebel11 Online Community Member Posts: 1,687 Pioneering
    WelshBlue said:
    rebel11 said:
    @Hannah_Scope

    I'd order them to use 'Polyfilla', make sure they apply a top coat etc to fix it. They are so lucky I'm not a Judge.  :o  
    Be kind ... at least make them use Toupret filler - far superior and easier to work with and sand  :p
    I stand corrected, I would amend the first order and make them use 'Toupret Filler' as advised by Executive Consultant to all major building projects.   :)
  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 4,379 Championing
    The British museum is full of things that have been damaged or removed from their rightful home.  Someone was recently caught defacing the Colosseum as well. 

    Unfortunately, people ruin everything.  The world needs less of them!
  • Hannah_Alumni
    Hannah_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,866 Championing
    It is just such a shame that people don't think or think selfishly. 

    Something like the Great Wall is something that you have to travel to see. So when you do, you make the most of being in a different country and learning their history. It's just such a shame people have the attitude of "well what's taking out a part of it?"
  • 66Mustang
    66Mustang Online Community Member Posts: 14,991 Championing
    @Hannah_Scope I think you would find this interesting, from QI.

    An army giving their enemies bullets to stop them breaking down a historical monument to use as ammunition.

    "It took place at the Acropolis, where the Parthenon is, 200 years ago when Greece was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. During a rebellion lead by the Greeks and some notable Britons like Lord Byron, the rebels had got a grip on the Ottomans by 1820. The Ottomans were pushed all the way back to the Acropolis, who stationed themselves in the Parthenon.
    The Ottomans ran out of ammunition, but the 70,000 pieces of marble that make up the Parthenon were held together by lead sheets and iron. The Ottomans then started to take these lead sheets and turn them into shot, but the Greeks were so horrified of what would happen to the Parthenon if all the metal was taken away that they sold their own ammunition to the Ottomans so they could use that instead of destroying the building."
  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,717 Championing
    The Parthenon has certainly seen some hard times. It's greatest damage came  during the Venetian siege of 1687, the Ottomans were using it as a gunpowder store. This was not entirely uncommon for large Greek or Roman stone structures during the gunpowder age, as they were deemed "safer" for storing gunpowder than wooden buildings. Both from  fire and possible cannon fire. In fact the ancient greek gateway building to the Acropolis which contains the Parthenon was severely damaged not 30 years before the explosion at the Parthenon. Of course, "safer" does not mean "safe". A Venetian mortar round hit the Parthenon and blew up the magazine. 

    Wikipedia has an old drawing from the 1800s showing the side damaged by the explosions. The building you see in the centre was a mosque built from much of the rubble.
    [Drawing of the Parthenon by James Skene, 1838]

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