Great Wall Vanishing, One Stone At A Time

The Great Wall of China is disappearing due to weathering as well as creative procurement by locals. According to Wired, "What Dong's survey team found shocked them: They encountered local farmers living along the Great Wall simply unaware of what it is. They witnessed bricks being carted away by people to build houses, sheep corrals and pigsties. One 1,000-meter section in Hebei Province, which neighbors Beijing, vanished in the space of a year after locals took stones and foundation materials for repairs."