In recent days, the long-term destruction of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall within Ningwu County, Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, by an open-pit coal mine has sparked widespread attention.
According to a recent report by Liaoshen Evening News, the Ningwu Ming Great Wall is a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit. Due to the long-term encroachment, unauthorized excavation, and improper waste disposal by Shenda Chaokai Coal Industry, multiple sections of the wall have collapsed and been cut off at the waist, resulting in irreversible damage to the cultural heritage.
Public records indicate that the existing Ming Great Wall in Ningwu County is approximately 39 kilometers long, mainly composed of rammed earth structures. It is an important relic of the Ming Dynasty’s defense system in northern Shanxi. The protection range on both sides of the wall is clearly defined as 10 meters, with a construction control zone extending 200 meters outward. Protective boundary stakes and cultural heritage publicity signs are erected along the wall.
However, in the vicinity of the Shenda Chaokai coal mine, the Great Wall site is in ruins, with many parts of the wall suffering permanent damage.
In 2015, a landslide occurred at the Guojia Kiln section of the Ming Great Wall. By 2018, over a hundred meters of wall had completely collapsed, with the rammed earth foundation severely damaged. What was once a continuous city wall has now turned into a loose dirt slope, completely losing its historical features.
The direct cause of the collapse was Shenda Chaokai Coal Industry’s encroachment and extensive dumping of mine waste within the protected area of the Great Wall from 2014 to 2018. The long-term pressure and disturbance led to the loosening of the foundation, slope instability, and ultimately the collapse of the Great Wall itself.
Confirmed by remote sensing satellite images and eyewitnesses on-site, in addition to extensive collapses, many sections of the Great Wall have been deliberately excavated. A gap in the wall near Guojia Kiln village was forcefully dug around 2007 for the convenience of transportation before the merger and reorganization of the original enterprise by the coal industry. Another gap near Banshan village is 5 meters long, 8 meters wide, and about 3 meters high, completely “cutting off” the Great Wall, becoming a passage for vehicles in the mining area, thus fracturing the continuous Great Wall remains.
On-site observations reveal that the area within the boundary stakes of the Great Wall protection has been encroached upon by the mining operation. The rammed earth surface is exposed, severely weathered and damaged, leading to significant destruction of the cultural and historical landscape.
Following media exposure of the above events, on May 20th, local authorities announced that the aforementioned damage is directly related to the long-term violations by Shenda Chaokai Coal Industry and its predecessor. Four individuals responsible for the situation have been subjected to criminal coercive measures.
Information from the Tianyancha app shows that Shenda Chaokai Coal Industry Co., Ltd. in Xinzhou, Shanxi was established on February 6, 2013, with its registered address in Shizhu Village, Yangfangkou Town, Ningwu County. Wang Jianjun serves as the legal representative, and the company’s business scope includes the extraction of mineral resources, specifically coal mining. The coal mine adopts an open-pit mining method with a planned annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons.
Public information indicates that Shenda Chaokai Coal Industry has been repeatedly fined by the authorities since 2026. On March 23, 2026, the company was fined 170,000 yuan for failing to implement enclosed measures for the open-air stacking of raw coal. On March 25, 2026, Shenda Chaokai Coal Industry was fined 500,000 yuan for carrying out construction projects within the control zone of a cultural relic protection unit without the approval of the cultural relics administrative department, resulting in damage to the historical landscape of the protected unit. On April 28, 2026, the company was fined 500,000 yuan for unauthorized construction projects within the control zone of a cultural relic protection unit.