Chinanews, Beijing, July 20 - According to the State Cultural Heritage Administration, China has started its general investigation of the Great Wall, the first of the kind since 1949, aiming at collecting basic information of the entire Wall in 4 years. Some provinces and autonomous regions have already acquired the data needed.The investigation of the part of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) will be completed in the late 2008, and the archives and database of the Great Wall will be built by 2010.The Great Wall is one of the biggest and oldest existing cultural heritages in the world. Though China has put it on the national cultural heritage list, the damage to the Wall has never stopped, particularly damages caused by the development of it as tourist spot. Besides, local cultural heritage administrations often complain that they don't have enough money to protect or refurbish the Great Wall. Making general archives of the Great Wall will be the first step to offer it better protection.