News Brief
June 2004 – January 2005

World Environment Day

Society members had their busiest day ever on World Environment Day which fell on 5 June 2004.
The mobilization got off to an active start with members alighting from the bus at the foot of the mountain soon after 7.30am on the summer’s morning. Then it was a hike of 8 km along wild paths and three kilometers of Great Wall, picking up garbage along the way.
The second activity of the day was a gathering of the valley’s children who had entered the Society’s competition “My Home by the Great Wall”. Students were asked to make a drawing of Great Wall, write a short story about their life close to it, suggest an environmental slogan and provide a photograph of themselves on or near it.
A total of 23 entries –all of them excellent -- were received. Jiang Hua, Beijing TV anchor woman, kindly came out from Beijing to give out the prizes provided by Black Yak. All entrants got prizes with special awards going to five contestants.
After the busy morning members were ready for lunch, but even this was no time to stop work! The group of 30 members divided into five groups and had “farmer’s lunches” with families in the village, while recruiting the families as members of International Friends of the Great Wall. Over lunch, members briefed farmers on the need for every individual to make an effort in the challenge of protecting the Great Wall and its environment. The need of locals and visitors to observe the Black Yak “Countryside Code” was emphasized. 
In the afternoon, the work spread to two neighbouring villages. William Lindesay, accompanied by members, visited six more families and presented them with membership awards of framed photographs.
After a re-grouping, William Lindesay gave his illustrated lecture “Great Wall: Adventure, Research & Conservation”, and a fine interpretation of the story was provided by Qi Fei. 
The loyalty and enthusiasm of Society members and different activities crammed into one day united us with tens of thousands of other activist groups across the globe to make this a memorable World Environment Day.

West to East Gas Pipeline – Impact Monitoring

At meetings held between International Friends of the Great Wall and Shell China, the impact of the West to East gas pipeline recently completed was assessed. The pipeline, buried two metres below surface for it entire length, carries gas from Xinjiang to Shanghai, a distance of more than 4,000 km, and crosses remains of Great Wall in 12 locations.
Although Shell China assisted PetroChina with environmental and social impact assessments during the development phase of the project, Shell was not eventually involved in the actual construction work. During the course of the impact assessment, Shell solicited the opinion of International Friends of the Great Wall regarding maintenance of the landscape quality of Great Wall.
A random assessment of actual work completed in several locations showed varied levels of impact, ranging from “no impact” to “untidy”.
As the photographs below illustrate, one crossing point in southern Gansu Province monitored by Shell shows that the pipeline was routed deep under the Wall (using directional drilling), with no surface disturbance, with little noticeable difference between the before and after pictures.
Another site near Jiayuguan, monitored by International Friends of the Great Wall shows that the pipeline appears to have been trenched by excavation from the surface – as opposed to being route under through a drilled tunnel. 

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Tower Study Project

* Field-Work Phase of Tower Study Completed
The tower conservation research project sponsored by the Robert Wilson Challenge to Conserve Our Heritage completed two important stages in June 2004.
A team of four doctorate students from Tsinghua University department of ancient architecture began main field work with a two-day survey of the tower to produce the essential architectural plans, elevations and sections. During the evening session, various measurements were loaded onto laptops.
The second phase of field work involved a team of five from the Centre for Engineering Design & Research under the HQ of General Equipment, a work unit of the army. The job of this team was to use both traditional and modern methods to record the damage on the tower. 
To monitor the movement of the several score plaster seals were placed over cracks.
The purpose of this work is to come up with a general solution, as unobtrusive as possible, for stabilizing the structures pf watchtowers on wilderness sections of Great Wall.

*Tower Survey Report Published
A 100-plus-page illustrated technical report was published to record the basic findings of the tower conservation research project.
This report is now being used to Tsinghua University’s department of ancient architecture as the basic resource for suggesting the remedial measures necessary to protect the tower and others like it.

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[How the Great Wall has Changed] Project

This comparative photography project, sponsored by Shell China, has made a strong beginning during 2004. Many sites were visited in the Beijing region, on the border with Hebei and at Shanhaiguan and Jiayuguan, eastern and western termini of the Ming Great Wall respectively. 
Using a resource of vintage photographs of Great Wall, William Lindesay has been taking these back into the field to re-take the scenes as they appear today. 

* Shanhaiguan Field Work
William Lindesay, society director, and Wang Baoshan, society cameraman, made a three day field visit to Shanhaiguan in July 2004. 
A number of re-photography tasks were completed with assistance provided by the Shanhaiguan Great Wall Museum curator Mr. Wang Xuenong, who helped with locating many sites and giving the background history behind the various changes.

*Jiayuguan Field Visit
William Lindesay visited the western end of Great Wall at Jiayuguan in early December 2004 to carry out re-photography work for the Shell-supported project “How the Great Wall has Changed”. 
Lindesay also carried out a survey to record landscape damage in the vicinity of the Jiayuguan fortress. 
During his visit Lindesay was filmed by Jiayuguan and Gansu Provincial TV.

*Lunchtime Talk to Shell China Staff
William Lindesay gave a 40-minute illustrated talk to the staff of Shell China at their office in September 2004. 
Lindesay wrapped up his presentation with an update on progress of the Shell-funded conservation research project “How the Great Wall has Changed”. 

*Shell Field Visit
William Lindesay was joined by Nick Wood, external affairs director of Shell China, and Mike Seymour, social and environmental adviser of Shell China, on a bright morning in October for a working visit to two sections of Great Wall, at Badaling and Juyongguan.
As sponsor of “How the Great Wall has Changed” the Shell personnel were accompanying William to re-photograph two sites that had been photographed in 1919 and 1870 respectively. 

*Feature in Chinese National Geography Magazine
A ten-page feature with text and illustrations by William Lindesay appeared in the December 2004 issue of Chinese National Geography magazine.
The story entitled in Chinese “Look Back at the Great Wall’s Centuries” explains the theory of re-photography and its application in the Society’s project “How the Great Wall has Changed” which is sponsored by Shell China. 

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Museum Exhibit Translations Provided

International Friends of the Great Wall has assisted the Shanhaiguan Great Wall Museum by editing English-language translations of its materials displayed in a new exhibition hall.
Some 7,000 Chinese characters of text, including the exhibition’s foreword, introductions to Wall-building dynasties and captions were translated, and then edited by society director William Lindesay. 

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Final Project Report Submitted to WMF

The final report for a 12-month field program involving the employment of rangers, the placing of various green message notice boards, village education work at various levels was provided to WMF in September as a requirement at the conclusion of work by the Robert Wilson funded project. 
As well as paperwork and photos, a short DVD was also produced, with all filming from the camera of Wang Baoshan.

*Director meets with WMF Vice President
In early December 2004 William Lindesay met with Henry Ng, executive vice president of the New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF).
WMF is one of the Society’s largest supporters and has awarded funding for ranger work, various notice boards and tower conservation research via the Robert Wilson Award.
At the meeting, William Lindesay updated the WMF representative on completed work, ongoing projects and discussed future cooperation.

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Great Wall Visit Arranged for BHP VIPs

On behalf of BHP Billiton, the Australian corporation that has sponsored the society for three years, Mrs. Jeronia Dines and Mrs. Elizabeth Goodyear made a visit in October 2004 to see the section of Great Wall protected by the Society’s three year long field program. Their tour was hosted by local farmer Mr. He Wenqi, manager of the program.

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Director Visits China Great Wall Society

In October 2004 William Lindesay visited the China Great Wall Society to meet its president, Dong Yaohui, and brief him of the work of International Friends of the Great Wall and know more about the work of the China Great Wall Society.
During the friendly discussion on the protection challenges, the two men also exchanged anecdotes from their respective journeys along the Great Wall in the early 1980s.

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Directors Report to Beijing Bureau

International Friends of the Great Wall directors met with Mrs. Yu Ping, deputy director of the Beijing Bureau for Cultural Relics to review the work of the Society during 2004.
Soon after International Friends of the Great Wall’s official and legal establishment as a registered society, in HKSAR in 2001, the society and Beijing Bureau signed an MOU pledging to work together on Great Wall related issues.
At their December 2004 meeting, the directors agreed to re-nominate the “Cultural Landscape of the Great Wall, Beijing Region” for listing on the 2006 World Monuments Watch List of “The World’s 100 Most Endangered Sites” which will be announced in autumn 2005. .

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2004 Concludes with a Third Membership Activity

Concluding its most active year to date, society members “Worked as Rangers for the Day” on the first Saturday of December 2004.
Members remarked that was there was actually little garbage to pick up, and what was collected had to be really searched for – a tribute to the diligent work of the ranger team..

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Latest T-Shirt Issued

In April 1998 it was “I Cleaned the Great Wall”.
In November1999 it was “Take Nothing But Photographs, Leave Nothing But Footprints.”
And in 2002 it was Chairman Mao’s challenge edited to: “Who Are We if We Cannot Cherish the Great Wall?” 
Always an important propaganda tool for spreading the Society’s message, in early December 2004 members wore the new shirt which bears the slogan “There’s only one Wall in the world that’s Great!” and a children’s drawing of the eastern hemisphere of the globe which of course shows the course of the Great Wall.
“We got idea from the children’s competition held on World Environment Day,” says Wu Qi, assistant director of the Society. “My eldest son Jimmy, who entered the competition, drew the globe – he’s always listening to his dad saying that Great Wall is on the globe and world maps. We thought it would look nice on a shirt and that it would particularly appeal to younger people who we need to influence with our environmental and heritage protection messages.”
This concept was handed over to Society member and professional designer Ying Jun, who came up with the artwork used on the new shirt.

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Directors Meet State Administration Chief

In early December 2004 William Lindesay, director of International Friends of the Great Wall and Mrs. Wu Qi, assistant director, visited the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) to meet its director Mr. Shan Jixiang.
Shan briefed International Friends of the Great Wall on recent work by his administration, particularly his administration’s breakthrough in getting six different government administrations and ministries to work together with his own administration to protect Great Wall. The seven are: the Ministry of Culture, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Land Resources, the Ministry of Construction, the State Administration of Environmental Protection and the State Administration of Tourism. A copy of the document signed by the group is available on this website in both English and Chinese.
Lindesay briefed Shan on progress with all the Society’s projects, and discussed how to the project ‘How the Great Wall has Changed’ could be used as a powerful advocacy and awareness-raising tool to promote the need for greater protection efforts. .

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Joint Declaration to Protect Great Wall Translated

The milestone declaration made by seven Chinese Government administrations and ministries pledging to work collectively to protect Great Wall has been translated by International Friends of the Great Wall and appears on this website.
“The unified approach that’s necessary to really protect something as complex as Great Wall has always been hampered by different arms of government having their own agendas and sometimes working against each other – to the demise of Great Wall,” sais William Lindesay. “This consensus, with seven administrations and ministries backing the State Council call is an absolute prerequisite for well-founded protection work.”
Director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage Shan Jixiang, while emphasizing the significance of the consensus, said he was disappointed that the Ministry of Transport had not yet become a signatory.
According to press reports, road construction has caused enormous damage to many sections of Great Wall in recent years, with many incidents occurring in Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Shaanxi. 

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UNESCO Meeting

In early January 2005 William Lindesay met with Ms. Beatrice Kaldan, newly appointed cultural representative at UNESCO Beijing office to brief her on the work of International Friends of the Great Wall.
The Society’s activities and work has always been supported by UNESCO Beijing office and the two agreed to continue the cooperation.

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Society to Publish Booklet with Black Yak

International Friends of the Great Wall and Black Yak will in 2005 publish a booklet to mark their ongoing cooperation to protect the wilderness of China.
Black Yak has sponsored the Society work for three years, with the main focus of cooperation being the Countryside Code campaign.
With a provisionary title of “Achieving, Enjoying & Protecting the Wilderness with Black Yak” the booklet will contain recollected moments from adventurers who use Black Yak outdoor equipment, environmental protection guidelines to stress that everyone can make a positive difference, as well as advice on comfort and safety in the wilderness from Yang Xiao, field programs officer of the Society, also known as “Gear Guy”.

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