Zhang Heshan: A Great Wall Guardian in Qinhuangdao, Hebei

On May 28, Zhang Heshan inspects the damage to a watchtower on the Chengziyu Great Wall.

On May 28, Zhang Heshan picks up wall bricks scattered on the Chengziyu Great Wall.

On May 28, Zhang Heshan makes his rounds inside a watchtower on the Chengziyu Great Wall.

Zhang Heshan, 61 years old this year, is an ordinary farmer from Chengziyu Village, Zhucaoying Town, Haigang District, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. A descendant of the soldiers who guarded the Ming Dynasty Great Wall, Zhang Heshan began protecting the Ming Great Wall near Chengziyu Village in 1978, and has now done so for 38 years. Over these 38 years, as a volunteer Great Wall protector, Zhang Heshan has turned away shepherds, scared off brick thieves, and gotten into heated arguments and angry confrontations with many people in order to protect the Great Wall. He has worn out more than 200 pairs of sneakers, walked a distance on the Great Wall equivalent to more than two times around the Earth, and compiled over 200,000 words of Great Wall survey notes and stories and legends. In 1997, he became the first farmer member of the "China Great Wall Society." As one of the Great Wall protectors, Zhang Heshan is responsible for patrolling about 10 km of the Great Wall from Dongjiakou to Pingdingyu. In 2007, Zhang Heshan was named a "National Outstanding Cultural Relics Protection Volunteer" by the National Cultural Heritage Administration, and in the same year was also named one of the "Top Ten Warm-Hearted Figures Among Hebei Farmers" and one of the "Top Ten News Figures Moving Gangcheng." Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Shiyao