Many tourists are driven by an uncontrolled urge to leave their mark on the monument or the walls of any place they have visited. In their desire to leave their mark , little do they realize the damage that they are causing to world heritage sites and other beautiful monuments which was built so painstakingly and have to be preserved for our future generations to appreciate and connect with our glorious past.
The Great Wall of China - a very popular tourist destination also has been a victim of this behavior for decades now. Inspite of the continuous efforts of the heritage officials and other concerned departments , they have not been able to discourage this section of tourists who are compulsive graffiti artists with a single minded aim of finding ways to make their presence felt.
Adopting a new technique which satisfies twin aims has been China’s answer to this grave problem. The new scheme is aimed at satisfying the controllable urge of these artists on the one hand, and protecting the heritage site on the other. Visitors are now charged for etching out their message on the Great Wall of China. Tourists can now pay a sum of 999 yuan and buy the right to etch their message on a single brick at a fake portion of the wall near Badaling. This lets the tourist write out his message and also does not cause any damage to this great monument that must be preserved. Hope the scheme achieves its aim and is able to solve the problem for the Great Wall of China without causing any heart breaks.
Source : guardian
Image credit: trader-china
