Following a collaborative nomination from International Friends of the Great Wall and Beijing Bureau for Cultural Relics, the World Monuments Fund has re-listed the ‘Great Wall Cultural Landscape, Beijing’ on its 2004 Watch List of the ‘World’s Most 100 Endangered Sites’ announced in New York in October 2003.
The site was first listed on the WMF’s 2002 list.
“With the maturity and foresight to face a realistic situation, the government has supported our nominations to have the site listed,” said William Lindesay, explaining the benefit of the listing. “In August 2003 the Beijing Municipal government announced regulations to protect Great Wall within the region – 2002 listing has helped focus everyone’s attention to the fact that an enormous amount of legal work, action and research needs to be launched to protect the enormous and extensive Great Wall system of cultural relics.”

The Society and Shell China in November 2003 signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow the release of seed funding to launch a unique project based on archive and field research that will lead to awareness raising, education and pioneer in-the-field conservation work.

"Then and Now", initiated by International Friends of the Great Wall and sponsored by Shell will start by using evidence of how the Wall looked in the past – old images – as a key to understand how the present state of the Great Wall came to be, thus allowing us to scientifically identify and measure the forces that have been at play in changing the Wall’s appearance, both physically and aesthetically.” explained William Lindesay, director of The Society.

Trained in the study of earth sciences, Lindesay says that the foundation of the whole Then and Now project is an adaptation of the basic geological principle that the processes which created all the rocks in the earth’s geological record are still going on somewhere on the planet today: in other words, “the present is the key to the past.”

"But, when we want to understand how buildings and landscapes have changed in appearance, comparing the past, captured on old images, with the present, pictures taken today, is the key to identify the most potent forces behind the changes and countering them," said Lindesay.

“We are delighted to be associated with this important project,” said Tom Bourgeois, Vice President Onshore and General Manager West-East Project for Shell E&P. “We first started talking to IFGW in early 2002, when they provided expert advice to the West-East Pipeline project, which crosses the Great Wall in 12 locations. Since then, we have explored various opportunities to support ongoing conservation measures for the Wall. This 3 year project will raise awareness, particularly at a national level, through the organization of comparative image exhibitions and seminars, publication of features and books, and hosting of workshops.”

The pipeline will carry gas from the Tarim Basin of China’s northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to markets in east – Shanghai, Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province in the Yangtze River delta region, as well as Henan and Anhui Provinces along the pipeline route. The project forms an important part of the Chinese Government’s plan to increase the use of gas and develop cleaner energy resources to sustain economic growth, and to help develop the country’s more underdeveloped western and interior regions.

Reviewing some of the advice provided to Shell by International Friends of the Great Wall, two main points were stressed. First, that Great Wall is a not just a building but a rich and extensive cultural landscape in which the actual fortifications must be protected in their natural settings and “view pollution” must be avoided at all costs; and second, no matter what condition the remains are, they form part of the Great Wall system of relics that must be protected as a whole.

“In the past, there’s been neither the investment, the expertise, the technology or the awareness and even willingness to protect the past from the present – roads and railway lines have been punched through Great Wall,” commented Lindesay, ”but for the East to West pipeline project I am positive that impact will not only be minimized, but avoided completely, given the Shell’s equal regard for principles as well as profits, as well as the high technology of directional drilling that can route the pipeline under the Wall.”

Officers of IFGW remain in close consultation with Shell (who are still negotiating participation in the West-East Pipeline Project being developed by PetroChina) and hope to participate in an actual site inspection of one of the crossing locations at the earliest opportunity.

International Friends of the Great Wall was asked by environmentalist David Joiner early in 2003 to help the US-China Environmental Fund project in the shadow of the Great Wall at Badaling.

“The group’s project, to recover the landscape quality of Great Wall scenery at a place where it has been so badly damaged by construction of tourism infrastructure immediately attracted my interest,” said William Lindesay, who was asked to contribute ideas for storytelling, and images, to be posted on panels beside the forest trail.

Specifically the group planted a huge hillside with various species of trees, as well as constructing a rocky path winding through the forest up to fifth watchtower to the east.

Chosen from among hundreds, a total of more than 20 images were donated to the project by William Lindesay.

Funded by ConocoPhillips, the International Friendship Forest was officially opened on 28th October.

A feature on Great Wall landscape and conservation, with first comments on the new legal protection regulations, written and illustrated by William Lindesay made the cover story in the magazine ICON, published by World Monuments Fund in New York.

“Such high profile coverage in a prestigious journal should help the cause of Wall conservation greatly,” said William Lindesay, adding that he wrote the feature during the SARS period in China when forced to stay at home.

William Lindesay, founder of International Friends of the Great Wall, has just published his third book on the subject of Great Wall. The book is part of the Oxford University Press popular series Images of Asia and has the full title Images of Asia: The Great Wall and will be available in booksellers from December 2003.

An interesting feature of the book is the opening chapter’s coverage of what the author calls the "map phenomenon of Great Wall" – the fact that it is the only historical building marked on maps of the world on account of its extent. The author also orients his readers with a logical definition of "Great Wall".

Running to 94 pages and seven chapters, and including 16 colour plates, three maps and 35 black and white illustrations, the author’s closing delivery focuses on conservation and includes mention latest of the milestone initiative by Beijing Municipal Government to protect Wall in the capital region.

"All writing, interviews and film on the subject of Great Wall must from now on include conservation issues," said the author, "for sure, the construction story of the Wall is wonderful, but the destruction story of the Wall also needs to be told in order to make it stop."

Lindesay’s first book on the Wall was a recounting of his 2,470-km solo trek in 1987 along the route of the Ming Great Wall. It was published in the UK, US and Germany.