Fall of the wall

last updated 8 January 2015

Beijing

China is getting tough on people who steal dirt or bricks from the Great Wall. Over the past 2,000 years, the wall has been mended many times. But in the past few decades it's been eroding significantly, partly because of human destruction. Last week, for example, three people were caught using bulldozers to carve tons of dirt out of the wall for use in a landfill. Under the new, stricter laws, such transgressors can be fined up to 500,000 yuan ($62,500) or jailed for up to 10 years. Only a small portion of the 4,000-mile-long wall is open to tourists.