The renovation of a Great Wall section in Beijing has started, with the help of both governmental and social funds, according to a statement from the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation (CFCHC) on Wednesday.
The renovation project of the Jiankou section of the Great Wall in Beijing's Huairou District, co-sponsored by the CFCHC, the local township government, and Tencent's charitable foundation, is expected to be finished next June.
The Jiankou section, the most renowned part of the Great Wall thanks to its steepness and tortuousness, was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and has suffered for years of weathering and man-made damage.
"This is the first time for us to work with non-government funds to renovate the Great Wall," said Li Xiaojie, director of the CFCHC, adding that the use of social platforms is expected to attract more attention towards the Great Wall and its protection.
Besides financial support, Tencent also pledged to better promote the culture of the Great Wall with its digital resources.
Before the renovation started, a WeChat mini-program called “Great Wall at the Moment” developed by the technology giant has been launched online, on which people can watch the live streaming video that shows the real-time views of the Great Wall.
Last year, the “Wangzhe Rongyao” (King of Glory) team of Tencent Games designed and published a new series of characters called “The Great Wall Guard Army” including the most famous ancient Chinese heroine Mulan in their hit game, which had garnered over 80 million daily active players and 200 million monthly active players by 2017 and had its international version “Arena of Valor” released in 2017.
According to Ji Zefeng, vice president of Tencent’s Timi Studio Group, the game production team would help arouse the awareness of protecting the Great Wall through promoting “The Great Wall Guard Army” in their official WeChat platform and video channel.
Meanwhile, an online interactive platform was planned to be launched in the near future, on which the public could contribute to the Great Wall renovation project via doing a little task to donate a piece of bricks.
Vice president of China Great Wall Society Dong Yaohui believed that a better and wider influence in society regarding the Great Wall protection would be achieved with the new powers of technology and Internet from Tencent involved.
Cheng Wu, vice president of Tencent Group and CEO of Tencent Films, revealed that Tencent aimed to tell more stories about the Great Wall and invite its users to participate in the preservation project of the Great Wall through interactive activities.
At a press conference announcing the cooperation project on preserving the Great Wall, Cheng also emphasized that the cooperation would be long and substantial with various plans carried out anually.
