The wall has seen it all so too have others

It started in 2013 and was completed in 2014. It runs for about 8 kilometers. Still it took two years for the world to know what had happened there. Perhaps because of the remoteness of the site.

A part of the Xiaohekou section of the Great Wall in Suizhong county of Liaoning province was crumbling, like so may other sections, thanks to the elements before work to restore it began. The idea was to save it from being lost, washed away by rain. What we have got instead is a cemented-surface wall. Guard towers and defense stations were razed to create what looks like an elevated bicycle track running through forested hills. And to think the Great Wall is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A condemnable mockery of an iconic structure indeed. Restoration of historical or natural sites, however, has been plagued with such misdeeds, both in China and overseas. It's another matter that some undoing may not be evident to laymen's eyes.