Is the Chinese Destroying the Great Wall?



   China is constructing train tunnel of 12 km in length through one of the portions of its iconic Great Wall to connect Zhangjiakou city, which is due to co-host the 2022 Winter Olympics along with Beijing.

   It took the Chinese engineers’ several months to choreograph the best intersection point. In the end, the tunnel, deep below the Badaling section of the Great Wall, passed experts’ appraisal, state-run People’s Daily reported.

   Can we even believe this Chinese state run media? They are destroying the iconic monument of mankind. So what we get out of it? It will reduce the travel time just by one hour. Does it worth destroying this?

  The line is designed for high-speed trains travelling up to 350 km per hour, which is expected to shorten the journey time from more than two hours to approximately one hour. The line is estimated to be completed in 2019

   The depth of the tunnel will range from four metres to 432 metres. Beijing–Zhangjiakou high-speed railway line, being built by China Railway Number 5 Engineering Group, said the firm will employ “precision micro-blasting” technology, which has a velocity of 0.2 cm per second. 

  The technology is capable of making the impact weaker than the traditional firepower blasts that have a velocity of 5 cm per second. State run media reported that the new technology will ensure that the Great Wall will not be affected by the blasts, as they will be barely felt.

  “The new technology causes some little damage to the geological environment. I myself once stood on the Great Wall and I could not feel the blast at all”- Zhang Xuehua, a Chinese blast expert at the construction site Daily that the construction of the tunnel has completed 4,500 blasts since early February this year.

   Can we trust anything Chinese let alone a blast expert, I’m sceptical.

   In the middle of the tunnel, workers will build a spacious station right under the Great Wall, with a record breaking construction space of 36,000 sq meters. The station will be 102 metres below the surface of the Badaling Great Wall. I wish nothing goes bad.

   Originating from the Beijing Railway Station North, the Beijing– Zhangjiakou line runs through Haidian, Changping and Yanqing districts of Beijing. Centre of tourism The line continues northwest through Huailai and Xunhua counties in Hebei province before terminating in the city of Zhangjiakou, making for a total length of 174 km.


   Built from the third century BC to the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the Great Wall stretches over 21,000 km. Over a four million tourists visit the Great Wall every year as it is the centre of China’s tourism campaign.

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