- One of the world's great landmarks, the Great Wall of
China, has lost about two-thirds of its length after years of decay.
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- Around a third of the 2000-year-old structure is merely
rubble and the same amount again has completely disappeared, reported the
Beijing Daily newspaper.
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- Much of the destruction has been put down to generations
of farmers tearing out chunks of the wall and using it to build homes,
stables or repair fences.
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- The erosion is so far spread that the World Monuments
Fund has put the Great Wall on a list of the 100 most endangered structures.
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- The wall is a great symbol of historical pride to China
and is famously said to be the only man made object visible with the naked
eye from space.
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- But in October Yang Liwei, China's first man in space,
said to popular dismay he could not see it.
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- Building work began on the structure in the 3rd Century
BC during the Qin dynasty and was originally designed to keep out marauding
forces.
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- At its peak, the structure reached 4,500 miles from South
Korea to the Gobi desert.
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- http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12939246,00.html
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