|
Yumen Pass, 101km northwest of Dunhuang, used to be one of the two critical defensive passes protecting Dunhuang from invasion from the West about 2,000 years ago. At that time, anyone in China wishing to take the Silk Road west (or east into China through Dunhuang) would go through this pass. The pass was also known as "Little Square City", named after a rare square piece of jade that was sent from the west to the Han emperor. In modern times, there are two gates in each of the western and northern sides of the pass built of yellow clay. Owing to severe erosion, some parts of the walls have collapsed, forming huge holes. On the northern side, there is a road leading west towards the ancient village of Hechang (15km away), which used to be the granary for the pass garrison.
Once the Yumen Guan Pass was one of the west gates out of the country of the Han Dynasty (206 B. C.-220 A. D.), it is quite ruined by the shifting sands but still shows the ever splendor. The Yang Guan Pass was also one of the west gates out of the country of the Han Dynasty.
Situated in the Gobi Desert eighty kilometers northwest of Dunhuang City, this was a pass on the northern route of the Silk Road. The remaining building is a well-preserved square structure, 24 meters from east to west, 26.4 meters from north to south, and 9.8 meters high. It was built with yellow mud bricks. The desert outside Yumen Pass bears few traces of human activity. It was so desolate that Wang Zhihuan (688-742), a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote, "Even the spring breeze cannot get through Yumen Pass."
|
