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Exhibits in Yangguan Museum
Yumenguan Pass of Great Wall
Originally known as Small Square City, the Great Wall Yumenguan Pass, together with Yangguan Pass, is one of the two important passes on the western frontier of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220) lands. It is located 56 miles northwest to Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, at the western end of Hexi Corridor. In ancient times, it was the crucial gateway from central China to the western regions. On June 22, 2014, it was successfully added to the World Heritage List. In the early Han Dynasty, the Huns ceaselessly invaded the Han's area. At first, the weak Han rulers attempted to marry the daughters of imperial families to the Huns' leaders, in hope of gaining temporary peace. When Emperor Wu rose to power, he immediately gave up this cowardly policy by launching fierce counterattacks on a large scale. Finally, the Hun's troops were driven back. In order to strengthen the stability of the western frontier, this wise emperor ordered Yumenguan and Yangguan Passes to be set up along the Hexi Corridor. Henceforth, these two passes, like two royal soldiers, honorably began to guard the western gate for their motherland. In the past, the beautiful jade was transported to the inner China through this pass via the Silk Road, which gave its name, Yumenguan, or "Jade-Gate Pass" in English. At that time, Yumenguan Pass served mainly as a post station for businessmen, military generals and ambassadors. It has witnessed the prosperity of business transactions along the Silk Road. The silk peculiar to inner China was transported to the western region in an endless stream. Cultural aspects of western China such as music and religion were introduced to central China at the same time. It is said that the grapes, pomegranates and walnuts now growing in central China were originally from the western area. Two thousand years later, the light ringing sound of busy camel trains has disappeared. The cry of sellers in the markets is completely gone. Yumenguan Pass of Great Wall has lost its historic function. It is only a rectangular castle standing in the Gobi desert. It covers an area of over 232 square miles, measuring 27 yards long, 29 yards wide and 32 feet high. The pass was built of rammed yellow earth and has two gates - the west gate and the north gate. There is a walkway measuring 1.4 yards wide on the top. Nuqiang (a jagged parapet on the wall) was set there too. In the southeast corner lies the "Ma Dao" (Horse Ramp), by which people and horses could gain access to the top of the wall. Climbing to the top of the pass, you can see the relics of the Great Wall and beacon towers scattered sparsely in the desert, creating an atmosphere of recalling the past.
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| Overhanging Great Wall in Gansu |
Located seven miles from Jiayuguan City in Gansu Province and four miles northwest of the pass city of Jiayuguan Pass, the Overhanging Great Wall is an important part of the defensive work of Jiayuguan Pass. It was built in the year 1539 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) in order to strengthen the defensive capability of the Jiayuguan area. Built on the eastern slope of Mt. Heishan (Black Mountain) the wall is not visible to anyone looking from west to east. Enemies thought they could enterinner China from here, the Heishan Canyon, as long as they rounded the Jiayuguan Pass. However, they were totally mistaken. After they went over the mountain with great difficulty, they found a very firm wall in their path that was impossible to cross. Therefore, this place has always been considered a natural barrier. Viewed from a distance, the Great Wall appears very like a dragon overhanging the slope, hence the name. The wall was built by using local gravel and yellow earth, layer upon layer, and consists of the main path, battlements and threeobservation posts. Originally, it measured 0.9 miles long. However, due to natural disasters and human destruction, only 820 yards of the wall remains, with 253 yards climbing onto the north slope of Heishan Mountain, which is 492-feet high and tilted 45 degrees. Its imposing appearance and manner are very much like those of Badaling Great Wall in Beijing, so it is reputed as 'the Western Badaling Great Wall'. Along the steps of the Overhanging Great Wall, you can start from the foot of Mt. Heishan to reach the top of the mountain. The steps are so steep that it's not easy for weaker people to reach the summit. Standing at the top of the walland scanning widely, you will see the boundless desert extending to faraway places, with the rare oasis dropped in. What a desolate and lonely view!
Juyan Fortress of Great Wall
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| Great Wall Cultural Relic |
Built in 102 BC in the Han Dynasty (206BC - 220), relics of Juyan Fortress of the Chinese Great Wall were scattered along the two banks of the Ejina River in Jinta County in Gansu Province, and to the north of Jinsi Tunao (the place's name in Mongolian) in Inner Mongolia. In ancient times, the land where this fortress stood was called Juyan, so the fortress was named after the land – Juyan Fortress.
The remains of the Juyan Fortress of the Great Wall measure about 350 km (217 miles) from northeast to southwest, much of which have been blown off by wind or buried by sand. Today there are about 170 sites of the Great Wall including barriers, walls, fortresses and beacon towers. They were all built in accordance with local conditions. Some of them were built of grey mud bricks and some were piled up by rocks or stone plates. The distance between two beacon towers varies from 1,300 meters (1,422 yards) to 2,000 meters (2,187 yards). In some places, a river was used as a natural barrier.
Juyan Fortress is famous for the over 30,000 wooden slips recording events of the Han Dynasty unearthed around it. The weather here is dry and windy, and the rainfall is low, which is a good condition for the preservation of cultural relics underground. The amount makes the area No.1 for wooden slips discovered in China. It is beyond comparison around the world. What's more important, they have recorded all aspects of culture, economics, military history, technology and politics in the Han Dynasty, which have significant historical, scientific and cultural relic value.
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| Great Wall Brick |
Juyan wooden slips recording events of the Han Dynasty can be divided into the old and the new ones by the time they were unearthed. The old wooden slips were discovered in Diwan, Dawan and Pochengzi of the Juyan area in 1930 by Bergmann, a member of the Sino-Swedish Expedition to Northwest China. There are over 10,000 slips, most of which were made of wood, except for a few bamboo slips. Now these old slips are kept in Taiwan. The new wooden slips were unearthed between 1972 and 1976. The over 20,000 wooden slips were discovered in Pochengzi, Jiaqusai and Jianshui Jinguan by a Juyan archaeological team. Currently they are kept in the Gansu Provincial Museum, except for hundreds of scattered pieces left among the people.
Most of the Juyan Han wooden slips are Great Wall garrisonfiles from between the last years of the Wudi Reign (157BC – 141BC) of the Western Han Dynasty to the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty. A small portion of the wooden slips are books, historical calendars and personal letters. The content involves the garrison, border defense, combat service, administrative system and the lives of soldiers' families.
For example, a script composed of 17 pieces of wooden slips described the alarm system of the strategic passes in the Han Dynasty, in which it described in detail what duties each pass should perform in military communication. For example, the number and the sort of the signal fires and the transmitting methods varied with the number and intentions of the Huns, and with changes in weather and the timing of attacks. In addition, the ways to correct errors were recorded comprehensively in the wooden script.
Jiayuguan Pass of Great Wall (Jiayuguan)
Located about six kilometers (four miles) southwest of Jiangyuguan City in Gansu Province, the Jiayuguan Pass represents the western starting point of a section of the Great Wall constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The pass covers an area of 33,500 square meters (eight acres) and lies at the base of a narrow valley, and takes its name from one of the surrounding hills, the Jiayu. Commonly referred to as the finest example of its kind on earth, the pass is the best preserved of the Great Wall's ancient military fortresses. The Jiayuguan Pass was constructed as far back as 1372. Legend has it that the official charged with overseeing the building of the pass demanded that the foremen not squander a single brick. The builders were for the most part successful, and the project was finished with just one brick surplus to requirements. It was actually left at the site and has become famous among the tourists visiting the area. The pass is constructed in three concentric layers: the central area is made up of an inner city, containing the largest of the pass' buildings; an outer city section, surrounded by a large wall dotted with watchtowers, turrets, and high-terrace pavilions; and finally, for purposes of defense, a moat. All of these features combined to make it a daunting prospect for any would-be attackers.
Encompassing an area of 25,000 square meters (six acres), the inner city is trapezoid-shaped. It is enclosed by the city wall which runs for 640 meters (2,100 feet) and reaches a height of up to 11 meters (36 feet). The inner city has both east and west gates, known as the Guanghua and Rouyuan respectively. Each of the city gates is also protected by its own smaller guard tower. The tower defending the west gate is known as Luo City. From it hangs a plaque with characters that read: "The Greatest Pass under Heaven". In the inner city are some tourist spots including Youji Jiangjun (an official title)'s Mansion, Wenchang Hall and Jing Pavilion. Found outside the fort's east gate are the Guandi Temple, a series of grand archways and a theater tower. On the west side stands a grand stele housed in a pavilion. The four Chinese characters found etched on its surface - 'Tian', 'Xia', 'Xiong' and 'Guan' - were written by Li Tingchen, a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) commander. There are also a number of other historical sites to be found in the Jiayuguan Pass region. These include the Overhanging Great Wall in the north and the First Frusta in the south.  Jiayuguan Pass TransportationTourists are recommended to take a taxi to the pass from Jiayuguan City.
| Admission Fee: | CNY 101 (from May 1 to Oct. 31) ; CNY 61 (from Nov.1 to Apr. 30)
(including admission to the pass, other nearby cultural relic sites, the Great Wall Museum and a postcard) |
| Opening Hours: | 8:30-20:00 (during summer and autumn); 8:30-18:00 (during winter and spring) |
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| Jiayuguan Pass |
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| Grand Gate, Jiayuguan |
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 Further Reading: Legends of Jiayuguan Pass
Gansu Province is one of the provinces which have the most sections of the Great Wall. Recent research shows that the walls built in Gansu are mainly the relics of four dynasties: Warring Periods, Qin, Han and Ming. The total length reaches 2,734 miles, which is indispensable to the study of the Great Wall of China and the history, geography and culture of western areas in China.
The construction of the Great Wall in Gansu follows the principle of using local materials. In the northeast mountainous areas, the wall was built from the local large pieces of stone or bricks, which couldn't be obtained in the dry western Loess Plateau and desert belt. The clever ancient laboring people built the wall by ramming the earth as solid as stones. This dense earth made the body of the wall difficult to deform and split. Jiayuguan Pass is a typical example built in this way. In the desert area, people created the wall by laying local branches of red willow, reeds and sand layer upon layer. Yumenguan Pass and Yangguan Pass are relics of this kind.
The present state of the Gansu Great Wall is the result of using compacted earth; hundreds of years have not been kind to this ancient section. One third of the section is basically complete, one third is broken and the rest is disappearing. The wall in Gansu is not an exception. It is suffering from both natural disasters and human intervention. The natural factors include wind erosion, floods, heavy rains and earthquake. Human activities are even more destructive. Ever ready to innovate and use their surroundings, local people have used parts of the wall in order to build railways, highroads and houses. In Gansu, the valuable wall relic built during Warring States is only half of the original 373 miles. The Great Wall of Han Dynasty is only left 621 miles compared to the original 1,367 miles and 621 miles of the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty can be seen from the original 870 miles.
 Gansu Great Wall Sections:
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| Yangguan Pass |
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| Shandan Great Wall Ruins, Gansu |
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Dunhuang Great Wall of Han Dynasty
When talking about the Great Wall, people will immediately think you are referring to the wall in Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). Actually, north to the Ming's wall in Hexi Corridor, lies a wall built in Han Dynasty (206BC - 220), which is more than 1,000 years earlier than the Ming's wall. The Great Wall ends at the West Lake of Dunhuang, Gansu Province, over 311 miles west to Jiayuguan Pass. In history, the Han Dynasty built many walls to consolidate the safety of the frontier region as well as exploring ways to do business with western region. Instead of piling up stones or bricks layer upon layer like other dynasties' walls, the Han Dynasty Great Wall is built by using the local sand and weed. These two constructional materials were added by putting one on top of another. On average, every layer measures 12 to 15 centimeters (4.7 to 5.9 inches). The present remains of the wall measure from 1.6 feet tall to over 6.6 feet tall.
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Han Dynasty Wall
made of local plants and earth |
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Many centuries later, the only remains of Han's Great Wall are a few broken sections and several towers distorted beyond recognition standing in the lonely desert. It is like an aged man watching the surrounding changes calmly after experiencing a lot. Listen carefully as he tells us that this place of desolation was once a fierce battlefield which was soaked by soldiers' blood. The path was stepped to and fro by the busy Persian and Han's business men as well as their camels carrying silk, china, carpet and food. The Great Wall is dwindling day by day because of natural disasters and human destruction. If we don't save it right now, it will finally disappear together with its glorious historical memories. The rescue work is very urgent.
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| A Beacon Tower of the Han Dynasty |
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| Wall of Han Dynasty |
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