In China everything can be a fake, even the Great Wall. Chinese media reported that the authorities have built a fake Chinese Wall next the real Wall in Yuyongguan (this is the place where you first pass the Wall when you drive on the Badaling Highway north of Beijing – you literally drive through it here). The reason is that many people tend to write their names on the Wall, and this activity negatively affects the state of the structure. The fake Wall can now be used to write on. In capitalist China, you of course have to pay for this. According to nu.nl tourists will have to pay USD 120 for the honor.

Is this story really true? I seriously doubt it, but maybe one of my readers can confirm it. Who would pay USD 120 to write his/her name on a wall? And not on the Wall, but on just a wall next to the Wall. And thinking about it, even the Great Wall in that location is fake: in Yuyongguan it has been completely rebuilt, and I don’t think there is still one original stone left. They might just as well rebuild the parts that are most affected by graffiti, but that’s probably not as lucrative. So who is fooling who?