Visitors to China’s Great Wall will be able to leave their mark on the ancient edifice after authorities set aside an area for etching. The aim is to focus the vandalism in specified zones, alleviating damage to the wall as a whole.

Mutianyu is 70 kilometres northeast of central Beijing and is one of the best-preserved sections of the wall, but it has become a target for tourists scraping names and other messages onto the stone.

A report by Beijing Evening News reveals that more foreign names and languages appear than Chinese – and most etchings are made in English. According to the district’s publicity department, 40 percent of visitors to Mutianyu’s section of the wall are from outside China.

One particular target is the Number 5 Fighting Tower, which is set to be restored by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. In addition, more patrol teams and warning signs have been added to discourage potential taggers.

The latest step has been to allow nearby Number 14 Fighting Tower to become a designated area for tourist graffiti. Two more areas, towers 5 and 10, will follow soon after, and an electronic graffiti board is being considered.

The wall was announced as one of the official New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007 and has since seen a surge in visitor numbers.

Around a third of the 21,196km wall is accessible to the annual 10 million visitors that mount its walkways.