Chinanews, Taiyuan, Jul. 27 – In early July, workers started quarrying sand near the Great Wall in Datong, Shanxi Province, which posed a serious threat to the wall. Local villagers have organized themselves to protest the wrongdoings.This section of the Great Wall was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) by traditional method. Several years of floods had created a gorge, which had gathered a lot of river sands. A villager revealed that some people believed that iron could be extracted from the gorge.Our reporter went to that section of the Great Wall on Jul. 24, and found workers didn’t stop digging sands, without machines but with bare sands. Villagers’ protest made these workers agree to stop digging sands there.A villager told this reporter that floods surely had caused damage to the base of the Great Wall, which posed a direct threat to the wall. An old villager said that his families have already lived in the region for generations, and all of them see the Great Wall has been very important to them.