Back against the Wall

In chilly winds of early April, Yang Yongfu, 46, walked in an internal passageway in a section of Great Wall stretching up to the mountaintop. Yang limped along the ridge of the mountain range and reached the signal fire platform at the top. He is not a tourist, but the constructor of the 760-m long Great Wall conjunct with three signal fire platforms.

From 2000 to 2007, the villager renovated the ruined left wing of the Shiguanxia Great Wall, a section at the west end of the Great Wall in Northwest China's Gansu province.

In March, in order to reimburse his 2 million yuan debt ($28,000), which he invested in renovating the Great Wall, Yang auctioned the operation rights of the wall at 5 million yuan base price.

The local government offered him 3.5 million yuan, but he turned it down.

"Time, money and health, I have given all I have to renovate the wall. It is like my son," says Yang.

In 2000, when Yang signed a contract with the local government to restore and utilize the wall, he was known as the "first farmer to renovate the Great Wall". After eight years, the Great Wall was reestablished, but he couldn't stand the burden any more.

In 1962, Yang was born at the foot of the Shiguanxia Great Wall, in a village named Caohuangying of Jiayuguan city.

The Shiguanxia section belongs to the Jiayuguan Pass at the west end of the Great Wall. It was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as an important stop of the ancient Silk Road and known as "the world's first impregnable pass".

From Jiayuguan Pass, like a giant dragon, the Great Wall winds its way across grasslands, deserts and mountains, spanning 12,000 li, or 6,700 km, and ends at Shanhaiguan Pass on the shores of Bohai Bay.

"In my childhood, the villagers had no idea about the importance of the Great Wall as the nation's cultural heritage," Yang says.

Villagers often dug at the wall to get the clay for building their own houses. The clay could also be used as a rich fertilizer, Yang says.

"There were only 50 m of ruins left. It's hard to imagine that it used to be a part of the Great Wall," Yang says.

Natural and human infliction over the years has reduced the wall into a pile of clay ruins.

From 1982, the local government began to renovate the Jiayuguan Pass. Yang worked in a contractor's team to repair the wall. In 1987, Yang and his uncle contracted the project to renovate the right wing of the Shiguanxia wall. The next year, they finished a 500-m long wall and earned 30,000 yuan, a considerable sum at that time.

From construction projects, Yang earned "easy money". He bought a two-floor house in the center of Jiayuguan city.

In 1988, Yang got the operation right to run the ticket office of the Shiguanxia wall. In return, he needed to hand in 10 percent of his profit as maintenance costs to the local government.

Tourism was developing slowly and Yang's business didn't bring him many visitors, even though the ticket was only 0.25 yuan.

However, as Yang recalls, tourists suddenly started rolling in for the Great Wall in 1994.

"Tourism seemed a fresh idea to most people. Some tourists even bought tickets for their friends," Yang says.

The ticket price rose to 2 yuan. Yang and his wife opened a souvenir shop at the foot of the wall.

"I bought a souvenir for 9 yuan and sold it at 20 yuan, but it was often out of stock," Yang says. "It felt like 'robbing money'."

The local government took back his ticket operation right later. But Yang had seen a gold mine at the Great Wall.

In 1999, the local cultural heritage protection department looked for enterprises and individuals to co-develop the left wing of the Shiguanxia Great Wall.

Yang was too excited to sleep. One night at 11 pm, he climbed the snowy mountain and measured the span of the wall. "The Great Wall has been repaired and expanded in the past 2,000 years, so why can't I rebuild it?" Yang says.

In 2000, Yang and his partner signed a contract with the local government to restore and utilize the left wing of the wall. He got a 30-year operation right and a privilege to further the right for another 20 years.

To rebuild this section of the Great Wall was a painstaking effort. The emperors could call up millions of soldiers, civilians and criminals, but Yang could only depend on himself and his contract laborers.

The Great Wall was built mainly with bricks, stones and special clay. The clay needs to be mixed with water and then dried at a certain temperature. Yang had to transport the clay from 8 km away.

The most difficult part was to transport stones to the mountaintop. Steep mountain lanes forbid vehicles to transport the heavy load. Yang hired workers to carry the stones, each weighing 20 kg, up the mountain like ancient builders did.

The signal fire platform stands at the mountaintop, leaving no space for a construction structure. Yang and his workers risked falling from the mountain to build the platform.

Besides restoring the wall, Yang installed an irrigation system to plant 20,000 trees and raise fish in ponds. He also opened two restaurants.

The initial investment of 800,000 yuan went quickly. Yang borrowed money from friends and got bank loans.

In 2003, Yang finished the 500-m long wall. There was still 250 m left, but he was heavily in debt.

The local government asked Yang to change the name of "Shiguanxia Great Wall" to "Shiguanxia Amusement Park". Yang did not like the idea.

"What I had been building was a section of Great Wall, not an amusement park. People wouldn't come to see a fake wall," Yang says. The local government withdrew its order.

Tourism did not develop as fast as Yang had expected. Most tourists prefer visiting the nearby Jiayuguan Great Wall, which is more famous and was restored earlier by the local government, Yang says.

In 2003, Yang sold his house in the city to pay the loans. His partner quit and the creditors often came to his home to ask for money.

Yang and his family live in his office near the wall. A color TV he bought in 1987 is the only electronic appliance that remains.

At the end of 2003, since he couldn't afford coal to get warm, he suffered an apoplexy and became lame.

But Yang did not stop. He borrowed money and finally finished the remaining 250-m last April. Yang fulfilled his dream of building the Great Wall. But one year later, the father of two sons decided to sell it for the family's wellbeing.

According to the Great Wall Protection Administration Law, which went into effect in December 2006, no individual has the right to run or sell the Great Wall, says Cheng Dalin, chairman of the Great Wall Research Committee. It means Yang cannot sell the operation right to anyone.

However, Cheng says the contract between Yang and the local government was "legitimate" as it was inked when "the country was transforming from a planned economy to a market economy for the aim of cultural heritage protection".

The Great Wall belongs to the whole nation, not to any individual. But Yang indeed contributed to restoring the Great Wall, a responsibility that the local government should take. Therefore, he ought be compensated properly, Cheng says.

(China Daily 05/06/2008 page20)