The three-storey South Gate Tower is a typical wood-framed building of Northern China in the early Ming Dynasty, same as the West Gate Tower.

At the wall corners stand four exquisite turrets. Among them, the most magnificent is the Northwest one. Between the gatehouse and the turret are 54 watchtowers.

Trenches or a moat encircles the outside of the outer wall for what was a defense strategy. It is 5 meters deep and 10 meters wide.

According to a statistics in 2005, the remaining loam wall was about 4,000 meters long, accounting for 55 percent of the original length, and the bulwarks outside the gates have all gone.

Fortunately, the outline of the wall remains with strong traditional features. In order to rescue and protect this historical and cultural heritage, Datong government carried out a restoration project in April 2008.

The recovery of the East Wall has been completed, including one gatehouse, two turrets, 12 watchtower, one embrasure watchtower and two command towers.

The large-scale South Wall is expected to complete by the end of September this year while the North Wall is under repair.