Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, has reclaimed 80,000 bricks from the city's 600-year-old wall which were scattered elsewhere around the city. The retrieval is the result of an initiative launched by local heritage protection authorities to retrace the lost bricks. Residents who provide valuable clues to their whereabouts are rewarded up to 2,000 yuan ($302).

The construction of the wall began in 1366, and some 25 km of it remain today. It is the largest and best-preserved historical city wall in the world. Over the past decades, a lot of the wall's bricks had been used to build houses by local residents. In recent years, some bricks have been rediscovered when some old buildings were dismantled during development of new communities and real estate. But the lost old bricks were mostly abandoned as construction waste. Thus, retracing them is tantamount to an emergency rescue operation.

The results of the initiative exceeded expectations. The discovery of such a significant number of bricks makes restoring additional parts of the wall easier. Meanwhile, the initiative has raised public awareness of heritage protection as more people are inspired to search for the bricks.

There is no lack of examples where old and ancient city walls have been pulled down and replicas of ancient architecture is used for the "restoration." Nanjing's practice strikes a stark contrast to what was and still is being practiced in some other places. It's wiser to retrace and protect original historical relics than to spend a huge amount of money on building replicas. This should become a consensus when it comes to cultural relics' protection.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article published in Guangming Daily on November 30)