Four tiers
Of brick.
Asanatsa — CC BY 4.0 · Caitriana Nicholson from 北京 ~ Beijing, 中国 ~ China — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ghrkya — CC BY-SA 4.0 · 鲍向阳 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · 鲍向阳 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · 鲍向阳 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · 鲍向阳 — CC BY-SA 3.0
A brick fortress on the Great Wall atop Hongshan, «Red Mountain», north of Yulin, built in 1607 in the late Ming to guard a great market where the Chinese bought horses and traded with Mongolian merchants from the north. Locals call it «the first tower of the Great Wall» and count it, with Shanhai Pass and Jiayu Pass, among the wall's greatest sights. The tower rises about thirty metres in four tiers that narrow as they climb; a lookout once stood on top but has long gone. Visitors climb through the walls and gates to the top, from which the earthen wall runs away across dunes and yellow uplands on the edge of the Mu Us desert, finest at sunset. Tickets cost CNY 20 to 30, and the tower has been a protected national monument since 2001, per visitor guides.
Of brick.
Among the dunes.
On the yellow uplands.
Hongshan, about 5 km north of central Yulin, Shaanxi
Northern Shaanxi has a Hui Muslim community and Yulin has restaurants under the halal sign serving lamb and noodles, while other restaurants may serve pork, so ask before ordering.