Tower No. twenty

Beyond Tower No. twenty lay another five hundred two meters of restored wall, yet a fence still kept the passage closed.

This wall was restored in two thousand eight. The restorers assembled the masonry from surviving old bricks; new stone could be laid only after inspection by heritage specialists. The seam between the sections turned out almost invisible. Yang Huaisheng, the complex’s general director, who had been seeking an extension of the tourist route, expected to open the continuation a year later.

The chief engineer, Jia Ruicheng, was responsible for the wall’s condition and for visitor safety. He explained why the finished masonry remained behind the fence: surveillance had not yet been installed farther on, and neighboring villages had not agreed on who would manage this land. The stonemasons finished their work, but Yang Huaisheng could not open the promised section. Visitors were turned back at Tower No. twenty for many more years.

That is how the restored route acquired an end here without the wall itself coming to an end. Neat masonry continued westward, but at that time no one could take full responsibility for it—from security to cleaning and helping people on the mountain route.

Now the former boundary has been moved: the official route continues to Tower No. twenty-one, Tower No. twenty-two, and Tower No. twenty-three. Beyond Tower No. twenty lies that very section which Jia Ruicheng once showed journalists as already restored, but still closed. The two parts were separated not by masonry, but only by a fence.