[Video provided by Datong bureau of culture and tourism]

The Datong Great Wall Forum was held in the city of Datong in North China's Shanxi province on Aug 15.

Through academic visits, keynote speeches, exchanges, and the release of results, the forum shared practical experience in the protection of the Great Wall and the construction of the Great Wall National Cultural Park, and explored the cultural value and brand image of the Great Wall sections in Datong. 

Experts and scholars from the China Great Wall Society, Chinese National Academy of the Great Wall, Tsinghua University, Tianjin University, and Shanxi University offered suggestions for the protection and utilization of the Great Wall sections in Datong and the construction of the city's Great Wall National Cultural Park. 

The forum released the cultural value and brand images of the Great Wall sections in Datong, as well as a report on the communication potential of the Great Wall of China National Cultural Park and the Datong tourism development index. 

Zhao Shuguang, deputy director of the Shanxi Department of Culture and Tourism, said that the forum has built a strong platform for further exploring Great Wall culture in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Hebei province, and displaying the construction results of the Great Wall National Cultural Park in Datong. 

The existing Great Wall sections in Datong, which were built in the Han (206 BC-AD 220), Northern Wei (386-534), Northern Qi (550-577) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties, extend 493 kilometers, accounting for 35 percent of the total Great Wall sections in Shanxi and stretching the counties of Tianzhen, Yanggao, Lingqiu, Hunyuan and Zuoyun, as well as Xinrong district.