According to the latest report, hard-pressed and poorly trained conservation officials have even granted approval for acts of vandalism by developers.
In one 600-year-old stretch of the wall in Hebei Province, surveyors found a 14m section had been torn down by a local construction firm and refilled with concrete apparently with the approval of the local cultural preservation office.
The developer, Zhou Wen was fined US$12,000 for the damage caused by his villa resort project, but he complained bitterly that he was only trying to protect the wall by rebuilding it.
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