Big chunk of China’s Great Wall used to pave a road

Well, I guess the builders were being pragmatic; after all, the Wall was just standing there and not serving any purpose, so why not tear some of it down and put it to good use?

Road builders demolished a large section of China’s World Heritage-listed Great Wall last month in an indication of the perilous state of one of the world’s best known landmarks, state media said today.

Almost 100m of the wall in northern Ningxia autonomous region was levelled in two overnight raids by construction workers who used the material to pave a road, the Ningxia Daily said.

The destroyed area near Zhongwei city was constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in an region known as “the Great Wall Museum” because of the profusion of rammed earth sections of the wall.

Less than 2500km remain of the 6300km long wall that was first built in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC).

Via Fark.com, which snarkily asks whether the road will be visible from space.

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