New | Wild part of the Great Wall of China damaged by nature, thieves and visitors

Part of the Great Wall has fallen into an alarming state of disrepair because of erosion, vandalism and a lack of maintenance, and nearly 10 per cent of it has disappeared.

A wild part of the wall in Hebei province was slanting dangerously, and many bricks had fallen off, leaving large holes, the Beijing Times reported.

Nearly 2,000km of the Great Wall, which measures more than 21,000km in length, had disappeared, according to figures from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

A study by the China Great Wall Society last year found that only 8.2 per cent of the Ming Great Wall – built during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and which forms the most visible parts of the structure – remained in good state.

Society deputy director Dong Yaohui said towers on the wall could collapse during torrential rains because of erosion. In 2012, more than 30 metres of the wall in Hebei fell after several days of heavy rainfall.

Trees that had grown on the wall posed another threat to the structure, as their roots stretched across it, causing further damage to the already brittle bricks that had been exposed to open weather for centuries.