S2E16: Restoring the Great Wall of China - and keeping it authentic

Asian Insider

Jan 16, 2025•13 min•Season 2Ep. 16

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Episode description

The Great Wall of China was built for protection, but now it's in need of guardians to preserve the 2,000-year-old structure.

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times catches up with its foreign correspondents about life and trends in the countries they're based in.

When a part of the Great Wall section in Liaoning started to crumble in 2016, authorities paved it over with cement to keep it safe, sparking outrage. Other sections had been transformed into tourist attractions complete with cable cars.

But China’s approach towards restoration has since been marked by a saying - “to go along with the layers, the slopes, the curves, the old and the dilapidated” - one tended to carefully by local villagers-turned-craftsmen.

In this episode, ST’s foreign editor Li Xueying speaks with China bureau chief Tan Dawn Wei about how China’s attitudes towards historical heritage restoration have shifted, and why.

Highlights (click/tap above):

0:45 Three men, one mission

2:58 Thinking about heritage preservation

8:08 What the Great Wall means to younger Chinese

10:16 A China correspondent’s Great Wall climbs

Read Dawn’s article here: https://str.sg/FofV

Read Li Xueying’s articles: https://str.sg/iqmR

Follow Li Xueying on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/ip4x

Host: Li Xueying (xueying@sph.com.sg)

Edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

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