A section of China's Great Wall has been extensively damaged by excavators used by construction workers in central Shanxi province.
According to police, two people are suspected of attempting to create a shortcut for their construction job, as reported by BBC News.
The two have been held, and the situation is being investigated further. The 38-year-old male and 55-year-old woman were working along the 32nd Great Wall when they were killed.
They constructed a "big gap" in the Great Wall by expanding an existing cavity so that their excavator could pass through it. According to police, they sought to shorten the amount of time they had to travel.
Police also stated that the two committed "irreversible damage to the integrity of the Ming Great Wall and the safety of the cultural relics."
The 32nd Great Wall, located in Youyu County, is a portion of the Ming Great Wall that has been designated as a provincial historical and cultural landmark.
Officers were notified of the damage on August 24th after receiving reports of a large crack in the wall.
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Continuous Renovation
The Great Wall, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1987, was erected and renovated continuously from roughly 220 BC until the Ming Dynasty in the 1600s when it was the world's biggest military construction.
While the most well-known sections of the Great Wall are comprised of finely crafted constructions peppered with antique watchtowers, some sections of the barrier are deteriorating or have vanished entirely.
According to Yahoo News, more than 30 percent of the Ming Great Wall has vanished completely, with only 8 percent considered well-conserved.
To understand why someone - such as the accused - would be so blasé about destroying a portion of this world-famous historical landmark, consider what it is.
The Great Wall is a system of battlements that stretches across extensive areas of northern China and is in various degrees of deterioration. It can be found in villages or cities, but it is more commonly found in isolated locations of various provinces.
The oldest sections, which date back thousands of years, were rammed earth walls that now appear as mounds, not even instantly recognizable as the Great Wall.
Farmers to Blame?
Local farmers taking bricks or stones to build dwellings or animal cages have been blamed for much of the wall's deterioration.
Recently, the government has gone to extraordinary efforts to preserve the Great Wall, putting these two people in serious jeopardy.
Given the prior demolition of the Great Wall, the Chinese population will not think these actions are out of the ordinary, but they will be outraged given the huge historical and cultural importance of this edifice - not only for China but for all of humanity.
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