CHINA: THE GREAT WALL OF THE HAN DYNASTY AND THE JADE GATE

Our next stop (in roughly the same area as the Yardang National Geopark) was the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty:

The symbols on the top of the above rock are the World Heritage symbol and the the UNESCO symbol:

We visited the Great Wall of China near Beijing about 10 years ago, and in my mind, that wall extended a great distance, always looking more or less like the section we saw.  I was quite surprised on this trip to discover how dumb I am when it comes to the Great Wall. There are multiple unconnected sections built over the period of a couple thousand years, and a lot of them don't look at all like the section near Beijing:

Map from here

The Han Dynasty started in 202 BC and ended in 220 AD. It followed the Qin Dynasty (when China was first unified, the Great Wall was started, the Terracotta Warriors were created, etc.). The Han Dynasty is considered to be the "Golden Age" of China. Much of the significant portions of the early wall were built during those years:

Map from here

The Silk Road trading route was in place by this time period, and this part of the wall was built as a defense against the pesky Mongolians.

The section we visited was in an area that looked very uninviting, and I wondered why anyone would come here, but as part of the Silk Road passage to and from the west, this region saw a lot of travelers:

  What remains of the wall doesn't look a thing like the Great Wall near Beijing:

The section of the Han Dynasty Great Wall near Dunhuang, built 2,100 years ago, is the best-preserved section in China. Over ten feet tall, the wall is almost ten feet wide at the base and tapers to a width of five feet at the top.

The builders of this wall used willow branches and reeds to weave a frame, filled the frame with sand and gravel mixed together with saline groundwater, and piled the filled frames one on top of another. It's incredible that large portions of the walls are still standing after 2,000 years of being subjected to the Gobi sun and wind:

Every three miles or so a beacon tower was erected. They were used to send messages along the wall via smoke and fire signals--not so different from Native American methods of communication:

According to a sign at the site, this beacon tower is almost 24 feet tall.

View from the beacon tower looking back at the way we came from the parking lot with the wall on the left rippling like a dragon's spine rising up out of the desert:

A short distance from the beacon tower, we saw this oddly-shaped pile that looked like a collapsed section of the wall. However, it is actually a pile of firewood that was kept near the beacon for quick access in the event that enemies were sighted and a alarm fire needed to be lit. At one point there must have been trees in this area that were cut down and piled in heaps. They were then covered with a blanket of mud and grass to keep the wind from blowing them away.

There are 67 such piles that have survived two millenia of sun and wind. Several can be seen in the background of this photo:

Our next stop was the nearby Jade Gate. During the Han Dynasty, this was a key spot on the Silk Road. It was the westernmost Chinese outpost and thus the entrance to the Silk Road in China. It was also the turn off for caravans making the long journeys to India, Persia, and Europe. Just about everyone who traveled the Silk Road came through here.

We spent a few minutes in the visitors center before heading out to the gate. Some of the posted rules are great. For example, I'm glad infants have to be accompanied by their kith and kind and "formal decreed dangerous items" are forbidden: 

There were some interesting bas reliefs, including one that appears to show slaves building the Great Wall:

Another bas relief depicts Chinese rulers meeting western traders/merchants:

This must be Emperor Wu of Han (156-87 BC), the man responsible for China's vast territorial expansion, increased trade with the West, and the construction of the Jade Gate:

A map shows the complex network of the Silk Road:

I wonder what all those Chinese characters say? Certainly more than "Small Fangpan Castle":

Another great bit of Chinglish: "Please make visit along the designa ted route. Violation would in crease your cons umption."  Not sure why the extra spaces are there, or why leaving the designated route would make me hungry:

The Small Fangpan Castle served as a sophisticated customs office that all Silk Road travelers coming to China from the West had to pass through in order to get their customs documents stamped before continuing their journey.

Thankfully, there were no customs officials present to check our non-existent paperwork.

The word "fangpan" has something to do with the building's square shape. The structure was originally called the "Square City." However, this outpost became a popular thoroughfare for the Chinese jade trade, and so for a time it became known as the Jade Gate Pass. Our guide told us it was known as the Jade Gate because at one time it was topped by a large jade sculpture, long ago stolen from the site. (Since coming home, I haven't been able to find anything that supports this story, however.) By the 6th century, other trade routes were more prominent, and this spot was abandoned. It was rediscovered and restored in the 20th century.

The 32-foot-tall mud walls enclose about 6,500 square feet:

From a viewing balcony we could see a marshland to the north (I think) that provided a natural barrier along this portion of the Silk Road. Watchmen would have been able to see any "unwelcome guests" long before they arrived, their progress slowed by the squishy earth.

Up next: The spectacular Mogao Grottoes