June 1, 2007

That's one way to get around a toll booth

Chinese Coal miners devised a way to get their trucks around a toll booth. They chopped a hole in the Great Wall... From the UK Guardian:
Toll dodgers tear road through Great Wall
Not much has been allowed to get in the way of China's spectacular economic development. But when a mining company knocked down part of the Great Wall so its trucks could deliver coal more efficiently, it was a step too far, even for the pro-business government in Beijing.

The state media said yesterday that the authorities have launched an inquiry into the destruction of a 400-year-old section of the world heritage site near Hujiayao village, on the border between the northern province of Shanxi and inner Mongolia.

Local coal firms were accused of removing soil and bricks from the ancient monument to build workers' houses. They are also said to have piled heaps of coal against the rampart and opened up a "big gap" in the wall to make a new road, so their trucks could avoid motorway tolls.

Two-thirds of the Great Wall has been destroyed by sightseers, developers and erosion. Survey teams are said to have found large new breaches in the ramparts, which are believed to have once stretched almost 4,000 miles. Other sections are said to have been vandalised, covered in graffiti and ripped up for use in pigsties.
Posted by DaveH at June 1, 2007 9:22 PM