Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Police are investigating after an image appeared to show a shirtless tourist doing a wee on the most popular section of the Great Wall of China.

The as yet unidentified tourist is believed to have been among the tens of thousands who visited the Badaling section of the Great Wall in Beijing at the weekend.

Officials say more than 12,000 people visited Badaling Great Wall on Sunday (5th April), the second of China’s three-day Qingming Festival long weekend.

The section about 50 miles north-west of downtown Beijing is the most visited part of the centuries-old fortification, and regularly attracted large crowds before the coronavirus outbreak halted domestic tourism.

It is also where most forms of vandalism occur.

Beijing police said they were investigating the image, which appeared online Sunday, showing a shirtless man facing away from the camera while appearing to be urinating into a corner.

The individual, if found to have vandalised the section of the Great Wall built in 1504 during the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644), stands to be punished under a new law which came into effect on the same day on 5th April.

The regulation, which is designed to monitor and catch perpetrators who vandalised the UNESCO World Heritage Site, was used to punish a tourist who was found etching the words ‘Sichuan’ onto a stone at the weekend.

The man surnamed Li was detained for five days, fined 200 RMB (23 GBP) and blacklisted indefinitely from the tourist site.

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