A section of the Great Wall of China that was lost beneath encroaching sands for centuries has been uncovered again, state media said on Wednesday.
The 80-kilometre stretch of wall on the southern slopes of Helan Mountain in the northwestern Ningxia region was built from 1531, with three watchtowers added nine years later, the Xinhua news agency said.
The seven-metre wall, which is 6,5 metres wide at its base, was ”gradually buried by moving sand” and lost, the report said, adding that one watchtower remained in good condition. For many centuries a strategic region near the front line of China’s northern borders, Ningxia has seen sections of the Great Wall built from the Warring States period of 475-221 BC, Xinhua said.
The uncovered section is only 40 kilometres from the Ningxia capital of Yinchuan. While it might seem difficult to miss something so big, such is the scale and remoteness of sections of the 6 000-kilometre Great Wall that lost parts are still being unearthed with some regularity. In August it was announced that experts had found the ruins of 30 unrecorded Great Wall beacon towers, two fortified castles and two auxiliary buildings during a field study in Gansu Province, adjoining Ningxia.
The Great Wall, designed as a vast protective barrier against enemy troops, traverses a series of precipitous mountain ranges and stretches from Gansu in the north to Liaoning province in the east. – Sapa-AFP