Edward Wong, As Interest Grows in Great Wall, an Ancient Chinese Fortress Beckons. New York Times, Dec 30, 2016.
Quote:
"For more than 600 years, Jiayuguan, translated as Jiayu Fort or Jiayu Pass, has been the anchor of the westernmost point of the Ming-era Great Wall
"Under the Ming, who ruled China for nearly three centuries [1368–1644], as many as 1,000 soldiers used Jiayuguan as a garrison.
"The high-speed rail route opened in 2014 and follows the old Silk Road along the barren Hexi Corridor, a strip of high plains that runs between two mountain ranges
"Near the wall [Great Wall] are underground tombs from the Wei and Jin dynasties, which were discovered in 1972 by a shepherd and existed for more than a millennium before the fort was built. There are as many as 1,000 of the tombs, though only one is open to the public.
"Last year, workers completed a four-year, $290-million restoration of the fort, which dates to 1372.
"my father was posted as a soldier of the People’s Liberation Army far beyond Jiayuguan, to nomadic lands on the nation's outer rim. In the autumn of 1951, he rode past the Great Wall at Jiayuguan in an army truck. The railway had not been built yet. The wall was crumbling. “No one went there in those days,” he told me. “The wall was made of earth, not bricks, and it was in bad condition. As the truck continued west, the wall vanished, and around him stretched nothing but the timeless sands.
Note: "tour groups poured from buses to clamber up to the fort's ramparts. Atop the battlements are three-story temple-style buildings with red wooden pillars and long curved eaves. Viewed from the battlements, the sands stretch to the horizon, and it is not hard to imagine phantoms of the frontier's ancient inhabitants drifting across them at twilight."
(a) cn.nytimes.com translates: 旅行团的团员们纷纷从大巴里涌出来，爬上嘉峪关的城墙。城墙上是三层高的城楼，有着红色的木质梁柱和长长的曲檐，好像是一个传统庙宇里的建筑。 从垛口处往下看，戈壁一直向天际线伸展开去，不难想象古代边关居民在日暮时分穿梭其间的场景。
(b) Ordinary Americans have a vague idea about the terms of a medieval castle. This online glossary will be helpful (and the above translation is not correct for "battlement").
"Battlement: (see also Crenel [or crenellation 垛口], Merlon, Parapet); the upper crenellated part of a castle wall or tower
"Rampart: in early castles, the rampart consisted of an earthwork ridge with a palisade on top; in later, stone castles, the rampart consisted of the stone wall with battlements and allure on top