after clearing out the launch area in the pirates' camp, I find I can't go up the ramp to Gao's HQ because there's 2 pirate guards standing there - I can neither talk to nor attack them & I can't go past them on the ramp! Glitch, perhaps? What gives???

Hmm...it's some time ago so i need ..some "markers"

did you allready
-eavesdrop Gaos Conversation with Lim and Jia at the upper Levels
-meet/fight Kang the Mad at his Workshop
-pass the Caves with Fuyao and eavesdrop the conversation of a group of pirates that Gao has passed them shortly

yes to all three - the pirates show up where the ogre appears....

Ah ok, now i know what you're talking about but i have no good news i fear...

this is a known bug that can appear for several reasons, it never happend to me so i can only repeat what i
read about it at the technical Bug-Threads at Biowares Network.

I. Reason
The 2 Guards should enter the Ogrefight as reinforcements but if one finished the fight to fast they are turned neutral again and block the Path because they miss the trigger to turn hostile again.
Solution: Repeating the Ogrefight without killing the last enemy before those two Pathblockers are killed, even if they don't move it's reported that you should be able to kill them with ranged attackes.

II. Reason
Some crazy incompatibility with newer Systems
Solutions: Repeating the fight with the lowest resolution and/or Win XP

General Solution
Aside from this i found some kind of "Fan-Patch" for this Bug written by a Modder that
wrote a wellknown Combatmod for Jade Empire

Homepage: http://jade-empire-in-style.com/

Fix: http://jade-empire-in-style.com/download/pirate_workshop_fix_2.zip

The Modder wrote that the Patch is neutral to all known Mods (take in Ming that this was written 2 1/2 years ago;) and i read from nearly a dozen people that the Patch worked.

I hope that the Fan-Patch solve your Problem...good luck.

I have the same problem! The 2 pirates are on the stairs and I can´t by-pass them or fight. Anybody else has this problem?
Thanks!