Badaling Great Wall gets tree-shaped lightning rods

If you climb the Badaling Great Wall this year, you'll probably notice several "pine trees" about 50 feet tall.

They're not real pine trees, though. They're tree-shaped, hollow steel tubes installed to protect tourists from lightening strikes.

Seven of the 12 "trees" have already been installed, with the other five to be set up by the end of this year, according to Ding Haitao, a Great Wall official.

Badaling, the most visited section of the Great Wall of China, was built on the mountain ridges in Beijing's suburban Yanqing county. Its location, and brick structure make the Great Wall prone to lightening strikes.

One recent accident took place last June when a 14-year-old boy got hit on his right arm when he was climbing the Mutianyu Great Wall, a section less crowded than Badaling.

These 15-meter high lightning rods are installed on each side of the wall at a distance of about 2 meters. The pine tree design fits the surroundings without hurting the structure of the Great Wall, Ding said. Each of the rods costs more than 200,000 yuan ($32,000).