Great Wall protectors have launched a face-lifting campaign to clean up marks left by tourists, but they admitted the damaged wall could not be repaired for the moment.

"The wall looks like newspaper in the sun. Nearly every piece of brick on the Badaling section of the Great Wall has carvings," said Zheng Yan of China Great Wall Society.

About 4 million Chinese and foreign tourists visit the Badaling section of the Great Wall every year, according to official statistics. Many of them carve or write their names, or words like "I have toured the Great Wall," on its bricks.

As early in 2003, the World Monument Fund included the Great Wall in its 2004 list of the "World's 100 Most Endangered Sites."

Dong Yaohui, vice chairman of China Great Wall Society, almost forgot to recount the history of the Great Wall to a foreign head of state while he saw the latter's daughter touched marks of visitors' names on the bricks in curiosity.

"I felt ashamed and did not know how to explain the ugly marks," said Dong.

Other practices, including the improper use of the Great Wall for tourism and climbing sections that have not been approved open to visitors are also threatening the relic.

The public has been condemning such practices and authorities are taking measures to better protect the Great Wall and arouse protection awareness.

In order to better protection of the Great Wall, especially the Badaling section, the China Great Wall Society and the administration commission of the Badaling section sponsored in early November a campaign soliciting suggestions on how to clean the wall without damaging it.

"Through this movement, we are trying to collect good solutions and call for the public be conscious of the need to protect the Great Wall and other cultural relics," said Dong.

The public reacted enthusiastically to the campaign, providing hundreds of suggestions, some even coming from Singapore and Denmark.

Some suggested maintaining the status quo, so as to warn tourists against such uncivilized acts.

However, experts said they still have no proper solution.

Most marks, mainly names and expressions of love, were written or carved between 1960s and 1990s, according to the China Great Wall Society. There are fewer today due to strengthened management and protection of the Great Wall.

Volunteers from all walks of life are also helping to protect the Great Wall. Sun Jing, a 72-year-old farmer who lives in a village near the Wall, volunteered to collect rubbish and warn tourists against carving on the wall.

"Protecting the Great Wall is something the same as safeguarding my home," he said, while his 8-year-old grandson lecturing children "grandpa says it is bad to carve in bricks."

Beijing issued rules for protecting the Great Wall in 2003, which forbid climbing sections of the Great Wall that have not been approved open to visitors and commercial activities.

The Great Wall was first built in the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). It is generally considered to start at Jiayuguan Pass in northwestern Gansu Province and stretches for 6,000 km to end at Shanhaiguan Pass on the shores of Bohai Bay in the east.

The wall was rebuilt many times through the centuries, and many sections of it have suffered serious damage from wind and water, as well as human destruction.

Since the 1980s, the Chinese government has allocated special funds to restore this national monument.

(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2005)