Photo taken on April 10, 2020 shows the spring scenery of the Mutianyu Great Wall in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
A girl from North China's Hebei Province has been placed under investigation by the Beijing police after she scrawled on the Great Wall to show her love for her significant other.
The girl, surnamed Li, posted her selfie taken on the Mutianyu Great Wall in Huairou district and another photo showing her and her significant other's names written on the Great Wall on Sina Weibo on Saturday, which aroused concern from the public after the post went viral on the internet.
The scenic spot management department reported the case to the local police on Sunday and the police contacted the girl, whose ticket reservation was for a minor aged 17.
Luckily, the behavior did not cause actual damage to the Great Wall, according to a spokesman surnamed Luo from the Mutianyu Great Wall.
"Our cultural relic protection staffers cleared off the writing with water and cloth and no obvious trace was left," Luo said.
Although the result of the police investigation into the case has yet to be released, Luo said the scenic spot management department expected that the girl would learn a lesson from the incident and the department planned to take the girl to the Great Wall again, showing her the hardship involved in constructing the Great Wall.
"We hope the incident will serve as an alert to the public and remind more people to care about the Great Wall," Luo said.
Luo said that although people's civic awareness has been rising greatly in recent years, it is still inevitable that some tourists behave in an uncivilized way out of emotion or impulse sometimes.
Incidents of writing on the Great Wall by tourists from home and abroad happen from time to time.
In 2012, players from the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers visited and wrote on the Great Wall, which was condemned by Chinese netizens. NBA player Bobby Brown from the Houston Rockets also carved his name and the number of his jersey on the Great Wall in 2017.
