Jiayuguan 嘉峪关 was regarded by the Ming Dynasty as the border of China separating "home" from the western barbarians. Today, Jiayuguan city is a small industrial town largely populated by immigrants from all over north and western China. It is quite devoid of character and evidence of human habitation. As my dad used to say about Wellington, NZ more than 15 years ago: one could lie down in the middle of the street in the middle of the day and not get run over by traffic. I walked down their "main street" (or the equivalent of Nathan Road in HK) for about half an hour on a late saturday afternoon and passed by less than 10 persons. But still, one is grateful for small mercies during a long trip; Jiayuguan does have an excellent hotel (relative to ones experienced so far) with efficient service and large, brightly lit, odourless and mellowly-coloured rooms.
After a good night of rest (finally 8+ hours of sleep), we set off in the morning for the Jiayuguan Fort 嘉峪关城楼. Yes, you saw "we" - this is because I have a travelling companion for the next 6 days, a good friend with whom I have travelled before.
Jiayuguan Fort is a fort cum city set in the dead centre of a stretch of the Great Wall that links up mountains in the north and mountains in the south, and acts as a defence to invaders from the west. During the Ming dynasty, when one passed outside the gate of Jiayuguan Fort, one left China "proper". In the west, lay Dunhuang, the Gobi desert and Xinjiang which, in Ming times, were not regarded as part of home country. Today of course, Jiayuguan Fort is a bustling tourist site complete with loud music blaring out of boom boxes and men dressed in tin foil representing Ming soldiers (for a tourist photo-op). Leaving the Jiayuguan Fort gate now, whilst there are a few tourist traps waiting outside (camel rides etc), it is mostly still a desolate countryside and it is easy to imagine how ancient travellers must have felt to leave their home and everything they held familiar, not knowing if they would ever be able to return.
After visiting Jiayuguan Fort, we visited other parts of the Great Wall nearby. Worth a trip is the "Overhanging Great Wall", a steepish climb up a stretch of the Wall which has been renovated. For me, easy to climb up, slow to climb down as usual (see photo). But worth it if only to get a panoramic view over the western plains.
Another interesting spot is where the Great Wall links to the Taile River 讨赖河 Gorge - this is a deep gorge not unlike (say) the Grand Canyon and acts as a natural defence against invaders. Cleverly, the government has built a transparent plastic balcony that overhangs the Gorge so one can walk out and experience the potential plunge from the Gorge (not for vertigo suffers I'm afraid!).
Finally, there is a cluster of mausoleums from the Wei-Jin 魏晋 dynasty in the vicinity of Jiayuguan Fort. These are tombs of rich peasants (not royal tombs). They have beautifully painted walls composed of bricks and each brick has its own little drawing showing scenes of everyday life in those times, eg keeping pigs, growing rice. Very charming drawings but they are badly kept and oxidizing, with no obvious measures of protection. Visit them before they all fade away!
Jiayuguan was the end of the world for the Ming dynasty. Tomorrow is Day 9 and we leave the world for "foreign lands". I am starting to read Colin Thubron's Shadow of the Silk Road.
