This is a lie. The Barbican of the sun is strictly inferiour to the Kremlin. Do not spread lies. It doesn’t help the discussion. Simple math shows Kremlin does 36 dps vs only 25 for the Barbican. Kremlin is straight up better against every enemy with 3 armor or less.
Also being able to build two Landmarks that don’t do anything doesn’t help at all. The Age 3 and Age 4 Landmarks are a joke and will never pay for itself over the game. The only bonus are the Dynasty bonuses and unit unlocks. But you are better off just putting those ressources into Age 4 and units instead.
Also Chinese doesn’t get bonus ressources to snowball like other factions. The IO is a 150 food investment which needs to pay for itself first. Meanwhile cheaper farms, berries, free gold income from Hunting, cheaper techs, faster villager production are all straight up bonuses which don’t require you to invest 150 food like Chinese does.
Proof:
The Kremlin acts as a fortified outposts, shoots an arrow with 12 damage every second and can garrison villagers. Ontop of this, it also increases the amount of wood dropped off at town centers and lumber camps around it by 20%.
Meanwhile, the Barbican of the Sun acts as an outpost, shoots a small cannonball with 25 damage but only every 3 seconds. Villagers can also be garrisoned in the Barbican. In terms of dps, this is much worse.
Even against early Knights, which have 3 armor, the Kremlin does 27 damage within 3 seconds. The Barbican is much worse.
Ontop of this, the Barbican offers no other bonus whatsoever. No economy bonus compared to the Kremlin.