The 2,300-year-old Great Wall of Zhao is "cut off at the waist"

Around 9 p.m. on January 5th, news broke on Weibo's hot search list. CCTV revealed that the Jiao Great Wall in Hunan, built 2,300 years ago, was cut off at the waist. The Tangzhuang-2 section of the Jiao Great Wall site in Weihui City, Hunan Province, was reported to be cut off in the middle. The paradox of this issue is that the mining company Weihui Natural Resources Company Ltd. has legal mining procedures approved by the local mining authorities. Despite needing more consent from the local cultural relics department, the Tangzhuang-2 section of the site was permitted within the mining scope. The phenomenon of the Jiao Great Wall being broken and destroyed is not the first time it has occurred in this area. At the intersection of Huixian and Weihui in Xinjiang City, Hunan Province, the Jiao Great Wall, which has experienced more than 2,300 years of ups and downs, was reduced in length from almost 3,300 yards to 935 yards, or 3,010 to 855 meters, in just over 10 years. 71.6% of the length of the wall ruins has been damaged to varying degrees. According to Xinhua Viewpoint Reports in December 2023, since 2021, Ruixiang Machine Made Sand Co. in Huixian City and several other sand-making companies without sand mining licenses had been operating in the prohibited almost 2,200-yard mining zone downstream of the Xitulo Bridge. About 1.6 million tons of sand were mined without a permit in the Ximen River. Moreover, since June 2022, Huihui Mining Engineering Service Co. Ltd. has unlawfully occupied land and excavated about 468,000 tons of limestone and other mineral resources under the guise of road construction, destroying nearly 190 acres of natural mountain area. Weihui City Natural Resources Co. Ltd. has also been mining ores outside the scope of their mining license for a long time. Among them, cross-border mining in the company's four workshops has destroyed approximately 295.2 acres of natural mountains and forest land since 2018. Additionally, Red Star News reported that in 2018, Weihui City's mining authority, the fourth workshop of Natural Resources Co. Ltd., classified the 712-yard-long Tangzhuang II section of the Jiao Great Wall ruins into the mining scope, causing damage to almost 500 yards of the Great Wall ruins. Moreover, the former Xinjiang Pingyuan Tongli Cement Company, the former Chunjiang Group No. 3 Quarry, and other companies also caused damage to Section 1 of Tangzhuang and Section 1 of Jiao Great Wall Changsun during illegal mining. Public discussions ensued in mainland China, with some expressing disbelief and frustration at the lack of action. Netizens questioned the allowance of mining at historic sites and criticized the neglect by local cultural protection bureaus. Notably, the 32 Great Wall in Youyou County, Shanxi Province, another section of the Ming Dynasty's Great Wall, was also destroyed in August 2023 for distance-saving reasons, sparking public outcry upon news exposure.