打击盗砖贼刻不容缓 与政府一起保护长城

The Great Wall is disappearing, brick by brick, and Chinese authorities have had enough.

长城正在一块砖接着一块砖地消失，而中国政府受够了。

A new campaign has been launched to protect the ancient fortification that snakes for 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers) across northern China from criminal damage.

政府已启动一项新的措施防止刑事毁坏，保护这个蜿蜒1.3万英里（2.1万千米）穿过中国北部的古代防御工事。

Built in different stages from the third century B.C. to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the wall was built to defend an empire but parts of it are now crumbling.

从公元前三世纪到明朝（1368-1644）经过多次修建的这堵用于捍卫帝国的墙现在正在坍塌。

Bricks have been stolen to build houses, for agriculture or to sell as souvenirs to tourists -- exacerbating the natural erosion wrought by wind, rain and sandstorms.

被盗的砖块用于建造房屋、农业或者作为纪念品卖给游客——加剧了风、雨和沙尘造成的自然侵蚀。

The crackdown will include spots checks, regular inspections and a hotline to allow members of the public to report damage, official news agency Xinhua reported.

官方新闻社新华社报道说，将通过现场抽查、定期监察和开通公众损坏举报热线展开打击行动。

The State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) first outlined the new regulations earlier this year but the issue has been in the headlines after a video of a man kicking and vandalizing the wall went viral on Chinese social media last week.

国家文物局今年早些时候就给出了新规定的提纲，但上周一名男子踢蹬、随意破坏长城墙的视频在中国社交媒体上疯狂传播后，这个问题又成了热门。

Many China visitors associate the Great Wall with an extensively restored stretch of Ming era wall at Badaling near Beijing, but this is far from typical of most of the structure.

提到长城，许多中国游客都想到的是一段邻近北京、修复较好的明代长城八达岭，但这和典型的大部分长城远不一样。

According to official statistics, around 30% of the Ming Dynasty section of the wall has already disappeared and less than 10% is considered well preserved.

据官方统计，约30%的明代城墙已经消失，称得上保存完好的不到10%。

"The Great Wall is a vast heritage site -- over 20,000 kilometers -- hence increasing the difficulty in preservation and restoration," Dong Yaohui, deputy director of the Great Wall of China Society,told CNN last year.

“长城是巨大的遗产——超过2万公里——保存和修复的难度也因此增加，”中国长城学会副主任Dong Yaohui去年告诉CNN说。