The Great Wall. [Photo/Xinhua]

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A special fund has been set up to preserve and protect the Great Wall.

The Great Wall Protection Fund, established by the China Cultural Relics Protection Foundation, will be the major non-governmental conservation organization focusing on the wall, which is 20,000 km long and crosses 403 county-level administrative areas.

The fund has received initial donations of 18 million yuan ($2.93 million) from a number of businesses and institutions, the foundation revealed at a launch ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on Monday.

Monday was the 30th anniversary of the famous "Love our China, and repair our Great Wall" declaration by the late leader Deng Xiaoping (1904-97).

China introduced national rules covering the Great Wall in 2006, the country's first State-level regulations on a single heritage asset.