China is Restoring the Great Wall via Crowdfunding and It Needs Your Help

A crowdfunding campaign has been held to restore the Great Wall of China to prevent its further damage. This campaign is run by the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, an organization that is semi-supported by the government. To be able to restore the Great Wall, the campaign needs $1.6 million (11 million yuan).

There are already more than 16,000 people who gave their donations for the said campaign that started end of August and is able to raise 715382.32 yuan as of press time via Gongyi.

The Great Wall of China was built more than 2,000 years ago to protect the empire from invaders. It runs 13,000 miles (21,000 km) and passes nine provinces of northern China. It still remains as a top tourist attraction in China, even though only the wall part made during Ming Dynasty is open for the public. Despite its grandeur, long hard years have been challenging the Wall's strength and endurance. There are reports of stealing the bricks and natural erosions brought by sandstorms, rains, and winds. A survey in 2014 revealed that there are only 8.2 percent of the Wall is in good condition, CNN reports.

"Despite the support from the central government, a large part of the Great Wall is at risk and disappearing," said Dong Yaohui, deputy director of the Great Wall of China Society, an NGO that is also involved with the crowdfunding campaign.

The planned restoration will fix the section in Xifengkou, Hebei Province -- a 500-year-old, 460-meter-long section of the Great Wall. In spite of good intention, some Chinese netizens were skeptical about pitching in money, but there are also some who were very willing to help.

"By pooling the contribution of every single individual, however small it is, we will be able to form a great wall to protect the Great Wall," Dong says. He assured that all the money given will be used to pay for restoration of Xifengkou section and the spending will be made public, he added.

The Chinese government had allocated money to the long-term plan of restoration of the Great Wall. Since 2005, they had given $285 million (1.9 billion yuan).