Two workers in China recently grew tired of their long trek around the famous Great Wall and decided to use heavy machinery to essentially burrow a hole into the structure in order to create a shortcut. Damaging a historical site, especially one as iconic as the Great Wall, is completely illegal, and these two workers have been swiftly arrested.
From Oddity Central:
China’s Great Wall, one of the very few man-made structures visible from space, was built over several centuries from the third century BC. Long sections of the giant structures are still around today and are protected as heritage sites, but that didn’t stop two ignorant workers from simply smashing through a part of it that just happened to be in their way. The two suspects, a 38-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman, were working near the affected area and got tired of having to go around the wall in order to reach their destination. They decided to extend a gap in the centuries-old structure to then drive their excavator straight through, instead of going around.
After being alerted about the damage to the wall, police in Shanxi province followed the tracks left by the excavator straight to the two suspects, who eventually admitted to widening an existing gap in the Great Wall so that their excavator could pass through. Unfortunately, the damage caused to the wall has been described as ‘irreparable’.
The damaged section of the Great Wall is far away from the restored sections that you usually see in photos and that tourists visit, but it is still part of a Unesco World Heritage site. Now it has a dirt road going through it…
“Currently, the two suspects have been criminally detained in accordance with the law, and the case is continuing to be investigated,” Chinese state-controlled media outlet, CCTV reported.
Damaging any historical site, whether it's in the public eye or not, is just disgraceful.
The Great Wall has stood for thousands of years, and these two took it upon themselves to alter a piece of history that cannot be repaired. It's absolutely shameful and reminds me a lot of the guy who etched his initials on the Colosseum in Italy.
It's just purely selfish, destructive behavior.
