Shanxi province recently passed new legislation to protect and sustainably manage its stretch of the Great Wall, one of the longest and most historically significant in the country, providing a legal framework to balance preservation with public use.

The Regulations on the Protection of the Great Wall in Shanxi Province were passed at the 28th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th Shanxi Provincial People's Congress. Consisting of six chapters and 47 articles, the regulations will come into effect on July 5 and cover the protection, research, utilization, supervision, and management of the wall.

Shanxi's section spans 1,401.23 kilometers — 9.74 percent of the Great Wall's total recorded length of 21,196 km — ranking third nationally. Spread out across 39 counties in eight cities, it stretches from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), with eight sections designated as nationally important points. Five of the wall's most famous 13 passes lie within the province, forming a unique geographical pattern and cultural panorama.

Among those designated points is Yanmen Pass in Xinzhou's Daixian county, a site long woven into Chinese legends and literature. During the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), the female generals of the Yang family stationed themselves at this northern frontier town and repeatedly repelled the southward invasion of nomadic Khitan tribes. Their story has since been adapted into novels, plays, and films.

The new regulations build on decades of institutional frameworks. In 2006, the State Council, China's Cabinet, established a national baseline for Great Wall protection. Shanxi's provincial government followed in 2021 with its own measures, creating a system of designated wall protectors, implementing complete monitoring coverage for important sections, and promoting the construction of the Great Wall National Cultural Park.

Wang Biao, deputy director of the education, science, culture, and health work commission of the Standing Committee of Shanxi Provincial People's Congress, said those local experiences urgently needed to be confirmed through legislation to refine and supplement national regulations.

Wang said the legislation will address persistent difficulties in the protection work, including insufficient funding, thin grassroots forces, and shortages in cross-regional and cross-departmental coordination. Natural and man-made damage had continued to occur, and the contradictions between preservation and public utilization had remained a pressure point, he said.

The new regulations directly address that tension. Yan Moyu, deputy director of the legal work committee, said research and utilization of the wall should be grounded in protection, so that public engagement serves both access and long-term inheritance. Meanwhile, construction of the Great Wall National Cultural Park (Shanxi section) will be advanced under this framework.

Wang Zhenhua, deputy director of the Shanxi Culture Relics Bureau, said the province will build a unified digital platform for its Great Wall resources, creating a permanent archive. Satellite remote sensing, big data monitoring, and drone surveillance will be used to maintain round-the-clock inspection coverage.

Earlier this year, there were media reports that a section of the Great Wall from the Ming Dynasty located in Ningwu county of Xinzhou was severely damaged as a result of long-term illegal mining activities and construction work by a local mining enterprise.

On May 20, the local government stated that the enterprise had been ordered to suspend production and rectify in accordance with the law. Criminal compulsory measures had been taken against four responsible persons on suspicion of illegal mining and damage to cultural relics.

Yin Chengwu, a 66-year-old protector along the Guangwu section of the Great Wall in Shuozhou, Shanxi, said the new legislation has "a significant deterrent effect on the protection of the Great Wall in the local area".