Repair of parts of Great Wall of China nears completion

Beijing, March 12  The repair of parts of the Great Wall of China in Gansu province is nearing completion, authorities said.

Repairs of the Great Wall along Jiayuguan city started in May 2012. About 95 percent of the renovation programme has been completed, said an official.

The 195-million-yuan ($30 million) programme involved reinforcing wooden structures, restoring paintings, building drainage systems and installing flood and fire control facilities, Xinhua news agency reported.

A few repairs are needed to finalise the renovation, the official said.

Most of the sections of the Wall were built from mud rather than stone and many parts have been eroded by sand storms and wrongly exploited by farmers.

Experts created different types of mud as replica of original materials to mend the damaged sections, the official said.

The Great Wall was built during the reign of China's first emperor Qin Shihuang (259-210 B.C.) to keep out foreign invaders. 

It stretches through 10 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in northern China, including, Hebei, Beijing, Mongolia, Gansu and Qinghai. 

More than one million tourists visited the heritage site in 2015.