Jiayuguan

 Jiayuguan

We caught a coach to take us from our hotel in Dunhuang to the railway station to catch an express train.

Inside the railway station.

Our train.

A locomotive.

A view of the scenery as we passed with squares of twigs planted into the sand to catch woind blown sand from piling up on the railway tracks.

More desert scenery.

And there were other things to see in the desert such as a forest of electricity pylons...

...and row after row of wind turbines...

...plus hectares of solar panel arrays.

Finally we reached Jiayuguan where we were to see the great Jiayuguan Fortress. After the Chinese withdrew from Dunhuang in the 14th century, they moved the population from there to here, further to the east and a more easily defendable position. The city was founded by General Feng Shon who started building the fort in 1368 but it took another 168 years to complete.

A view of some of the external walls.

The original gate into the fortress.

The gate from the inside.

Part of the Great Wall of China which formed part of the fort's defences.

A view of the walls of the inner city from inside the walls that surround the outer city.

A shrine near the entrance...

...another shrine...

...and the inner gate from the outer city to the inner city.

One of the pagoda like towers.

The Great Wall of China stretching away from the fort. 

More towers. 

The killing ground inside the main gate, surrounded by walls from which archers could fire upon attacking soldiers who had breached the first gate.

A view of the general's compound within the fortress from the outer wall. 

A view of the western gate facing foreign countries beyond the direct rule of the Chinese empire.