Why China Needs a Countryside Code
– by William Lindesay, director of  International Friends of the Great Wall. 

Part 1: "Who are we if we cannot cherish the Great Wall?" 

"Exodus to countryside created litter mountain" reported the South China  Morning Post on May 28th. 

Due to SARS, wrote Benjamin Wong in Hong Kong's main English  language paper, 1.4 million Hong Kongers flocked to the region's  countryside parks during April. And they left an unprecedented amount –  460 tonnes -- of garbage. Bins overflowed, park staff worked a record 
amount of overtime, and the government spent a record amount of money, to  clean up the mess.

As an environmentalist, and a Great Wall conservationist in particular, the  report worried me. I pondered what is going to happen post-SARS when  Beijing's cooped-up populace once again starts heading for the hills,  especially around the Great Wall?

Without SARS, Beijing's mountains and popular sections of Great Wall  were increasingly litter strewn. Post-SARS, people are going to be more  likely to get rid of their own garbage as soon as they possibly can – on the  spot. 

And eventually, what they leave the city for – wilderness -- is lost.
China's countryside is rapidly being despoiled by city people. So what's to  be done?

For three years, International Friends of the Great Wall, the society I&n

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Why China Needs a Countryside Code – by William Lindesay, director of  International Friends of the Great Wall.  Part 1: "Who are we if we cannot cherish the Great Wall?"  "Exodus to countryside created litter mountain" reported the South China  Morning Post on May 28th.  Due to SARS, wrote Benjamin Wong in Hong Kong's main English  language paper, 1.4 million Hong Kongers flocked to the region's  countryside parks during April. And they left an unprecedented amount –  460 tonnes -- of garbage. Bins overflowed, park staff worked a record  amount of overtime, and the government spent a record amount of money, to  clean up the mess. As an environmentalist, and a Great Wall conservationist in particular, the  report worried me. I pondered what is going to happen post-SARS when  Beijing's cooped-up populace once again starts heading for the hills,  especially around the Great Wall? Without SARS, Beijing's mountains and popular sections of Great Wall  were increasingly litter strewn. Post-SARS, people are going to be more  likely to get rid of their own garbage as soon as they possibly can – on the  spot.  And eventually, what they leave the city for – wilderness -- is lost. China's countryside is rapidly being despoiled by city people. So what's to  be done? For three years, International Friends of the Great Wall, the society I  founded to contribute to the protection of Great Wall, has operated a ranger  scheme at a section of Wall in Huairou County. From it I've learned a lot  about the phenomenon of littering.  The scheme has two components: farmers employed as rangers to walk the  trails and Wall and pick up garbage left by those visitors who, for one reason  or another, still litter despite seeing one of our "green message notice- boards" – the second component. Yes, the message "Take nothing but  photographs, leave nothing but footprints, keep the Wall wild and  wonderful!" does fall on a lot of deaf ears. During the first year we hired a truck every three months to take garbage to a  land-fill site in Huairou. Last autumn we needed the truck every month.  On the positive side, with investment in time, money, materials and  management – and most of all motivation to keep the Wall and its  surrounding landscape clean -- the site can be maintained by "stewardship".  But if the scheme was stopped, the Wall would rapidly deteriorate in  environmental quality and become as bad as many others. Why do so many people fail us, fail the Great Wall, and the beautiful  countryside in general? Despite our plea we estimate 70 percent of visitors  still just go ahead and drop their garbage. What is the main reason for  littering? Five years ago as I was organizing my first Great Wall cleanup, a colleague  suggested, in a friendly but frank way, that I should abandon the activity.  "That's the government's job," he said "you should stick to what you really  love, researching the Wall." His comment showed me what those 70 percent think: that it's not their job. But, if government were responsible, then other work would inevitably be  neglected. It's a massive job – and expensive -- to clean up after 70 percent  of 1.3 billion. International Friends of the Great Wall, an under-funded NGO, has used a  considerable proportion of it's limited cash to date to address a problem that  need not exist in the first place – when there are many other serious issues to  confront.  Nature has physically damaged the Ming Wall enormously in the last 350  years. Advancing desert sands, severe mountain weathering and earth  tremors have all taken their toll. What remains now is the fragile soul of the  Great Wall: even this is now under modern attack, by man. "Who are we if we cannot reach the Great Wall?" wrote Chairman Mao in  1935 as he spurred on the Red Army during the Long March. Nearly 70  years later it's never been easier to reach the Great Wall: people have the  money, weekends, holidays, cars and good roads. Maybe now we should  ask "Who are we if we cannot CHERISH the Great Wall?" We must learn to tread softly in this outdoor museum, not to scrawl our  names and thoughts on its 500-year-old bricks, to see the Great Wall from a  new perspective, not just as an ancient building but as a landscape, not  something that belongs to us for use today, but something we all must help  to preserve for tomorrow.  But most of all we must CONTRIBUTE as individuals, each and every one  of us. In order to guide, support and encourage the growing numbers of  people visiting the countryside to play their part, International Friends of the  Great Wall has started to promote a "Countryside Code".  Next week I'll introduce it to you: and ask you to take the pledge! For more on Great Wall conservation see http://www.friendsofgreatwall.org ********************************************************* Part 2: Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution? The Countryside Code being promoted by International Friends of the Great  Wall aims at being a preventative campaign, rather than a cure. In it, we are  not asking people to do a lot, but just to do what is socially acceptable,  culturally acceptable and environmentally acceptable. Poetic as the slogan "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but  footprints" is, I also feel that people need to be provided with a specific list  of things to do, or not to do. To this end I compiled a series of guidelines  based on my experience of encountering specific problems in the  countryside around Beijing, and internationally accepted environmental  standards. The Countryside Code is: 1. Take your own garbage home 2. Don't cross farmers' land – keep to paths 3. Don't shout unless it's an emergency 4. Don't smoke or let off fireworks 5. Carry your belongings in a rucsac to avoid use of plastic bags 6. Don't damage plants or flowers, or pick fruit 6. If you need to relieve yourself, cover up your business with soil 7. Space in your rucsac on the way home? – pickup litter left by others 8. Introduce others you meet to this Countryside Code! Just before SARS struck Beijing, 35 members of the society spent a day  promoting the idea to people heading up a mountain in Huairou towards the  Wall. Our station beside the path was simple: a notice with the guidelines in  Chinese and English, and a flag to sign for those willing to take the pledge  and make their peace with nature. During the day we collected some 300 signatures – 90 percent of people  passing were very receptive. Members took turns explaining our purpose to  passers by, and explaining the guidelines, the most important of which was  "please take your own garbage home" (in Beijing for proper disposal).  By far, International Friends of the Great Wall is most concerned about the  environs of the Great Wall, but the Countryside Code needs to be promoted  and adopted nationwide to make not only the Wall -- all of rural China -- a  cleaner and more beautiful place. Among the other guidelines I should single out a few which aim to solve  particular menacing – and increasingly serious – problems.  As more people are in the hills they need to learn how to eco-shit (i.e.  perform the environmentally-friendly cover up). Piles of shit are blighting  trails, even the Wall -- some watchtowers smell as bad as the worst hutong  WCs. When shitting in the woods just remember that while you don't want  others to see your backside, you should not pollute their eyes with what  comes out. The rule is "cover up your business with soil".  Two guidelines aim to help city folk nurture good relations with farmers. So  please "Do not cross farmers' land" and "Do not damage plants or trees, or  pick fruit". Farmers get extremely angry seeing hikers traipsing across their  planted fields, and very irate seeing people pull up off to the side of the road  and helping themselves to fruit in their orchards. Finally I'd like to draw your attention to the use of fireworks which have  become a major sound pollutant and fire hazard in the last 18 months. They  shatter the peacefulness of the countryside, which is at such a premium in  the modern world, and they are a real personal danger. Some may say they  are a Chinese tradition and of course that's correct, but they are a danger to  those who manufacture them, a danger to those who store and sell them, and  a danger to those who buy them and transport them. Moreover, on the Great Wall explosives are no longer allowed as they were  500 years ago. The Great Wall is a UNESCO World Heritage: imagine how  the use of fireworks would be treated at other sites, such as the Temple of  Heaven or the Forbidden City?  If you've read this, please pledge to observe the Countryside Code. Next  time you are in the countryside, be responsible for the environmental  protection-awareness of your family, your driver, your friends, colleagues,  others in your group, and recruit them to the campaign. Ask yourself about these problems and ask yourself if you, personally, can  be part of the solution. If you are not part of the solution then you must be  part of the problem. There are only two sides.  For more information visit http://www.friendsofgreatwall.org Beijing youth Daily,-A12(Bilingnal Page)

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