The demolition of the wall located near the village of Wujialing in the city of Yulin attracted attention after a netizen who wrote about it Sina Weibo, the country's biggest microblogging site.
"The Great Wall in Yulin was razed and buildings are being built on it," the post said, calling for people to condemn the act.
A photo of a bulldozer standing under a weathered tower on the wall was also posted, Xinhua news agency reported.
Netizens expressed their anger and blamed local relic authorities for failing to properly supervise the situation.
"Those in charge of construction should be held criminally liable and officials should be held responsible," said a netizen using the name "ami."
The Great Wall, built in the 5th century to prevent intrusions from nomads stretched to 8,851.8 km Zhu Jianping, a private entrepreneur who leased the land from the village to build the factory in question, said the project was suspended for a month after failing to receive a construction permit from urban construction authorities.
Zhu said the section of the wall had been damaged years before construction began.
"We didn't damage the Great Wall. It was damaged long before we started construction," he said.
