Walking along ancient structures at Jiayuguan

I descended to that final gate, receiving a certificate I was ”banished” and headed out onto a landscape of grey, yellow and red weathered rocks with gravel crunching under my boots. To the south rose the Qilian Mountains, with their snow fields and glaciers glistening in the sunshine. Every few minutes I would turn, look back at the fort as increasingly it started resembling just a line on the horizon. Ahead rose a rocky hill, an excellent viewpoint for photography, I thought. I climbed up and saw someone had written “I love you” with stones in the midst of this wilderness.

About 4 kilometers northwest of the fort is the “Overhanging Great Wall”. Built in 1539 on the eastern slopes of the Black Mountain, its aim was strengthening Jiayuguan’s defenses. Tilting at 45 degrees as seen from a distance, its shape resembles a dragon climbing toward the peak. Designed to be virtually invisible for anyone looking from west to east, enemy forces would think they could move that way only to discover a strong barrier impossible to cross. Consequently they would be trapped in a narrow valley blocked by the wall.