Parallelogram tower

Chinese: 平行四边形樓
Pinyin: Píngxíng sìbiānxíng lóu
English: Parallelogram tower
Coordinates: 40°18'57.59"N 115°57'1.28"E

Huajiayao is a deep, barren valley punctuated by one freestanding tower on top of a small hill about 100 meters from the Bangshuiyu Great Wall pass, at 40°18'57.67"N 115°57'2.56"E. This tower is special for being not rectangular, square, or round, but a parallelogram whose angles are approximately 30 degrees and 60 degrees. It's this charismatic tower that makes Huajiayao unusually interesting. There was originally a water gate at the low point of the pass, but this is now gone.

No amount of explaining can do the job of a satellite image showing the shape of this tower:

I've never seen another tower with this shape so I took a lot of photos even though the direct, overhead sun made photography difficult.

Steep western ascent on the left and the tower on the right. Before repairs.

Tower is at the lower right

After repairs

Before repairs

After repairs