Giving preservation efforts a priority

A bird's-eye view of the Great Wall's Badaling section. One of the earliest and most influential preservation projects was the "Love China, Restore the Great Wall" campaign, initiated in 1984 by a number of institutions, including the Beijing Evening News, the Beijing Daily, and the former Badaling Great Wall special zone administrative office. "We want to mobilize and unite a wider range of forces to collectively protect the Great Wall, share in the achievements of its preservation, and infuse new vitality into preservation efforts," Li says. According to Liu Yuzhu, chairman of the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, the campaign marked the beginning of the foundation's efforts to increase public participation. Recently, the Beijing Cultural Heritage Bureau worked with the Beijing committee of the Communist Youth League of China to establish the Beijing University Student Great Wall Protection Volunteer Service Team.