Published on: 2026-09-07
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
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Early in the morning in the village of Qiangangjian, located in the Xiaoyin township of Jizhou district, Tianjin city, 60-year-old Lu Xueyan leaves his house to begin his tour of the Great Wall of China. Right behind his home, the mountains begin, along which the Great Wall of China stretches.
He has been walking this mountain path for most of his life. As a child, he grew up among the mountains along the Great Wall and knows every ravine and every mountain ridge like the back of his hand. In 2016, when comprehensive protection of the Great Wall began in Tianjin, Lu Xueyan applied and became one of the first 16 caretakers of the Great Wall in the Jizhou district. Since then, once a week he spends about three hours alone on the trail, inspecting more than 18,000 meters of the ancient wall.
The patrol route is challenging: over the years, he has worn out more than ten pairs of rubber boots. He knows the condition of every defensive and signal tower by heart. During the patrol, he photographs objects to document their condition, fills out reports, and timely passes the information to the cultural heritage protection authorities.
The hardest time is in the summer. Mountain trails become slippery, the weather can change at any moment, and during heavy rain there is nowhere to take shelter. He is asked why endure all these hardships at such an age? Lu Xutian simply answers: “I am a member of the CPC and a villager who grew up at the foot of the Great Wall. Protecting it is both a matter of the heart and my duty.”
Today, on the section of the wall for which he is responsible, there are practically no traces of human-caused damage left—only natural weathering left by time. Thousands of photographs taken by him during inspections not only documented changes to the Great Wall but were also very useful during this year’s restoration work. Based on the materials he collected, experts developed a plan that allowed them to preserve the original appearance of the ancient wall as much as possible.
Lu Xueyan says that in recent years many tourists have come here specifically for the ancient Great Wall, and guesthouses in the village have become very popular. The Great Wall protects the village, and the village protects the Great Wall.
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