Gansu·Jiayuguan·The First Beacon Tower of the Great Wall

The westernmost end of the Great Wall, the first beacon tower, is made of rammed earth and sits forlornly on the vast Gobi desert of the Northwest, telling tales of a thousand years of vicissitudes. The first beacon tower is located beside the Taolai River, at the southernmost end of the Jiayuguan western Great Wall, and is also the westernmost beacon tower of the Ming Dynasty's Great Wall. The first beacon tower was built in the 18th year of the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty (1539 AD) under the supervision of Li Han, the military preparation road of Suzhou. It stands 7.5 kilometers north of the pass city, towering nearly 56 meters above the cliff beside the Taolai River.