THE Beijing government has taken over the management rights of the Badaling section of the Great Wall from a listed company.

The move was seen as the government's determination to fulfill its duties to safeguard and protect the world heritage site.

Badaling Special Zone Office in Yanqing County, an accredited representative of the local government, was set up to take charge of managing and protecting the 7,600-meter-long section.

All tourism income would be used in the protection and maintenance of the Great Wall, said Li Shuwang, the office's deputy head.

The Badaling section of the Great Wall has been leased to a joint-venture company, the Badaling Tourism Development Co. Ltd., since 1997. The company mainly sells entrance tickets to the Badaling section, apart from managing museums, restaurants and other commercial facilities inside the scenic zone.

However, the company's management violated the revised Law on Protection of Cultural Relics, taking effect in 2002, and the 2003 Administrative Regulations on Protection of the Great Wall of the Beijing Municipality, both of which banned any institution and individual from transferring and pawning the Great Wall to or converting the Great Wall into properties of certain enterprises.

"It took us three years to take back the management right, and now we are expecting that Great Wall will be protected properly in the future," said Li with the Badaling office.

In 1997, the Beijing government leased the management right of the Jinshanling section to a company for 50 years. In 2002, the company was ordered to hand over the management right to the government according to related laws. The company refused and demanded a compensation of 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million). The dispute has not settled till now.

The Great Wall was listed by the Newsweek magazine as one of the seven endangered heritage sites in the world. The magazine said close to two-thirds of the Great Wall had become rotten and had been used for commercial purposes. The Great Wall was put on the list of the World Heritage sites of the UNESCO in 1987.

Editor: Wing