Vandal punished for defacing Great Wall

A tourist who carved characters with a set of keys into the Badaling section of the Great Wall in Beijing on Sunday has been detained, fined and blacklisted, according to an official announcement from the Badaling Great Wall posted on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like social platform.

On Sunday afternoon, a video on Weibo of a man carving the characters into the World Heritage-protected site caught the attention of a Badaling Great Wall official, who immediately began an investigation and reported the incident to the police.

The man in the video was quickly identified as a tourist surnamed Zhong.

He was given 5 days of detention and a 200 yuan ($28) fine in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Penalties for the Administration of Public Security. In addition, according to Badaling Great Wall guidelines on punishing those found guilty of damaging cultural heritage, Zhong has been blacklisted and is banned from visiting the scenic spot in the future, along with other 12 scenic spots in Yanqing district.

Badaling's management office has announced its intention to step-up regulation of tourist behavior.

Billboards will be put up with images of improper behavior by tourists at the security and ticket gates and other prominent places, and messages advocating civilized behavior will be sent to people when they pre-order tickets online. Government departments including public security, cultural heritage law enforcement and supervisory departments will work together to target uncivilized tourist behavior. An additional 60 security personnel will also be deployed in the scenic area.

Those who deface the Great Wall will not only be punished by law, but will also be condemned by the Chinese people, for the Great Wall is a precious example of heritage, the management office stated in its announcement, adding that it welcomes reports of uncivilized behavior to protect the Great Wall.