The Great Wall of China was once the greatest symbol of Chinese culture.
Its majestic structure stood atop the Gobi Desert and covered the plains of the Tibetan Plateau.
Today, it is mostly empty.
The Great Chinese Wall, which spans 3,700 kilometres, was built in the first century B.C. to protect the Chinese imperial capital from foreign invaders.
However, the walls of the Forbidden City, the capital of the People’s Republic of China, and the Great Hall of the Great Pyramid of Giza are now the only reminders of the ancient heritage.
As of this writing, the Great Chinese Webcam has not been active in over three decades, according to a report from the US-based advocacy group OpenMedia.
The organization found the webcam was shut down on Dec. 1, 2018, when the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) shut down the webcam.
The website says the Great wall has been closed to the public since February 2019.
“The Great Barrier reef is an international tourist attraction, with a large number of foreign visitors who come to visit the Great Webcam,” the report reads.
“We strongly recommend that the GBRMPA reconsider its decision and restore the Great Great Wall webcam, which has been in use since 1995.”
OpenMedia says it has received hundreds of complaints about the webcam shutdown and has received several reports from Chinese visitors.
Some people are unhappy about the shutdown, some say they are afraid the Great walls will be damaged and others are angry about the Great China policy of China’s Cultural Revolution, which led to mass executions of political dissidents and human rights activists.
The US-backed NGO China Watch has documented a growing number of complaints from visitors about the closure of the webcam in recent years.
The group says the GBRCA has not complied with a 2014 law that requires the closure or shutdown of the internet for three years after a person dies or leaves the country.
“This is a violation of the National Security Act of 1966, which prohibits the use of the national security network for commercial purposes,” China Watch executive director Paul C. Singer said in a statement.
“GBRMSA has repeatedly refused to restore the webcam, despite repeated calls from Chinese tourists and others to do so.”
The Great Barrier and Great Wall webcams are important to Chinese tourism.
They’re located in some of the world’s busiest and most popular tourist destinations, including Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Macau, as well as at the Great Pyramids of Gizeh and Khufu.
The webcamps are a symbol of China and are used to show people around the world the country’s diversity and history.
China’s Great Wall was constructed over several millennia to mark the beginning of the Qing dynasty.
The great wall’s two main peaks are the Great Yangtze River and the Yangtse Gorge.
The two are separated by an archway.
China has a huge tourism industry, with about one-fifth of its $4 trillion economy, according, to the World Tourism Organization.
The GBRMDA says it is working on repairing the webcam and plans to reopen it to the general public in 2019.
It says its closure is a result of the closure and shutdown of a national security issue and that the webcam’s function has not changed.
“It is not a matter of China shutting down a national media organization,” a spokesperson for the GBRLA told OpenMedia, which is not affiliated with OpenMedia and has no links to the organization.
“Rather, it’s a case of the Government of China closing a key media organization to protect its national security interests.”
The US Department of Homeland Security has also said it is investigating the Greatwall shutdown.
“Due to a national emergency, the U.S. Government has temporarily shut down a number of government websites and social media accounts for national security reasons,” DHS spokeswoman Stephanie T. Foy said in an email to OpenMedia in February.
“As a result, some websites and services may temporarily be inaccessible until further notice.”
Open Media has been working to restore and reopen the Great and Great Rivers webcam since 2013.
In June, it was notified that the government would shut down its Great Wall, the site’s last remaining webcamp.
OpenMedia is working to help restore the remaining Great and Grand Rivers webcam sites and to secure the Great Water Webcam site.