Published : 22/09/2026
Seventy-year-old Cheng Yongmao wears a red hard hat, a blue work vest and a small camera hanging from his chest, while holding a wooden hiking pole. This has been his gear for climbing the Great Wall every time over the past 20 years.
He is a seasoned Great Wall restoration specialist. Despite his advanced years, he climbs the steep ridges time and time again to inspect the condition of the walls, check construction details and provide on-site technical guidance.
Drawing on his traditional masonry experience, he strives to preserve the original appearance and historical traces of the ancient Great Wall as much as possible.
Cheng Yongmao: From apprentice tiler to heir of the tiling craft
Cheng Yongmao (程永茂) is a technical consultant for Great Wall restoration at the Cultural Relics Management Office of Huairou District, Beijing, and also serves as the technical supervisor for the Phase V conservation and restoration project of the Jiankou Great Wall (箭扣長城).
To him, "As long as I can still climb mountains, I will keep doing this work of protecting the Great Wall."
Cheng was born in Huairou District (懷柔區) of Beijing, in 1956. As a boy, he only studied up to the fifth grade of primary school. From around the age of 16, he followed his maternal uncle to learn the craft of tiling.
From laying floors, foundation stones, stacking bricks, and pointing joints, to ridge tiling and sealing tiles, he honed his fundamental skills through day-to-day practical work.
In 1991, he joined the Landscape and Ancient Architecture Company of Beijing Huaijian Group, successively participating in ancient architecture projects such as the reconstruction of the Mahavira Hall at Hongluo Temple (紅螺寺) in Huairou District, the conservation of the Tiananmen Rostrum, and the Sutra Depository at the lower courtyard of Guangji Temple (廣濟寺).
During the Hongluo Temple project, he apprenticed under Pu Xuelin (朴學林), a tiling expert from the Palace Museum and the 15th-generation successor of Xinglongmen tiling (興隆門瓦作), becoming the 16th-generation successor himself.
From laying foundation stones and stacking bricks to ridge tiling and sealing tiles, Cheng Yongmao gradually mastered the restoration and conservation of cultural relics and ancient architecture. He carefully contemplated every brick and every joint.
Cheng Yongmao restores the Great Wall's dilapidated wall with 4 main principles
Although Cheng Yongmao's home was right at the foot of the Great Wall, he did not climb it for the first time until he was 48, when he participated in the emergency repair and restoration of the Huanghuacheng (黃花城) section of the Great Wall in 2004.
Recalling that year, as he stood on the dilapidated walls, he was profoundly shocked by the sight before him. He could hardly imagine how the ancients had built such a massive and intricately crafted defensive project on steep cliffs.
At that moment, he resolved to do his utmost to protect the Great Wall.
Having worked on Great Wall restoration for more than 20 years, Cheng has successively participated in and led over 10 emergency repair and restoration projects along the Great Wall, including those at Huanghuacheng, Mutianyu (慕田峪), Qinglong Gorge (青龍峽), Yaoziyu (鷂子峪), Hefangkou (河防口), and Jiankou.
Cumulatively, he has completed emergency reinforcement and restoration of the wall itself over a total length more than 20,000 metres.
Restoring the Great Wall is by no means as simple as bricklaying and brick paving.
It is necessary not only to prevent further damage and collapse to extend the wall's lifespan, but also, as Cheng often says, "to achieve minimal intervention, keep the restored sections looking old, preserve the character of the ancient Great Wall, and bring out the charm of the Great Wall as a heritage ruin."
How is this to be achieved?
He strictly adheres to the four principles of cultural relic restoration: "original form, original structure, original materials, and original craftsmanship."
He insists on never replacing old materials with new ones if the old can be used, finding every one of those old stones; if something can be reinforced and preserved, he never demolishes and rebuilds it, because the mottling, cracks, andtraces of handwork on the old stones are themselves part of history.
Cheng Yongmao says frankly: "We must pass on well what our ancestors left us, do not change its original appearance, and leave something authentic for future generations."
With over 20 years of practice, Cheng Yongmao has summarised his "Five Follows" restoration method: follow the original layers, follow the slopes, follow the curves, follow the aged appearance, and follow the damaged traces.
This means that however the wall was originally built along the mountain, however the bricks and stones followed the undulations of the terrain, and however the damage left the marks of time, the restoration should respect the original appearance as much as possible.
He never aims to build the Great Wall to be straight, flat, and brand new, but rather uses the "minimal intervention" approach to allow each section of the wall, on the premise of safety, to retain its authentic appearance.
Cheng Yongmao restored fallen stone blocks under minimal intervention guideline
Among the many emergency repair and restoraton projects on the Great Wall, the most difficult one was the Jiankou Great Wall project in 2016.
The slope of the "Ying Fei Dao Yang" (鷹飛倒仰, meaning "eagle flies facing upwards") section of Jiankou is nearly 80 degrees. That year, a section of over 40 metres collapsed, and stone blocks weighing hundreds of kilograms rolled down into the mountain gully.
To achieve a restoration with minimal intervention, Cheng and his team used a winch, and after six or seven stages of transportation taking over two months, they finally succeeded in returning more than 150 giant stone blocks to their original positions and reinforcing them.
In 2026, the Phase V of the Jiankou Great Wall conservation and restoration project is underway.
The 70-year-old Cheng Yongmao, as a technical supervisor, still rushes between various construction sites, and still insists on going up the mountain twice a week to carry out inspections and provide on-site construction guidance.
Cheng Yongmao's contributions to the restoration of the Great Wall have not only earned him honours such as "Most beautiful Great Wall guardian" and one of the top 10 "Beijing Role Models" of 2023.
His love for the Great Wall makes him, at the ripe old age of 70, still fight on the front line of Great Wall restoration, unable to bear letting it go.
Cheng Yongmao says frankly: "The greatest fortune in a person's life is nothing more than discovering one's mission in life, and that is to be a down-to-earth Great Wall craftsman." This is his mission, and also his responsibility.
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