Great Wall renovation an uphill struggle

As the first ray of sunshine reaches Donggou village in Beijing's Miyun district, Yang Chenghai and his fellow villagers walk behind 14 mules, each laden with bricks, and make their way up a hill to a section of the Great Wall.

Winding along mountain ridges across northern China, the Great Wall, one of the world's great wonders, was built between the 3rd century BC and the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The existing sections mostly date from that dynasty, with the Ming wall more than 8,800 kilometers long.

Preservation faces longterm challenges, as seen in the renovation of a 1 km section of the Great Wall north of Yang's village that began at the start of this year.