pass is situated between two sheer cliffs forming a neck connecting north china with the northeast. it had been, therefore, a key junction contested by all strategists and many famous battles were fought here. it was the gate of shanghaiguan that the ming general wu sangui opened to the manchu army to suppress the peasant rebellion led by li zicheng and so surrendered the whole ming empire to themanchus, leading to the foundation of the qing dynasty. (1644-1911)
jiayuguan pass was not so much as the "strategic pass under the heaven" as an important communication center in chinese history. cleft between the snow-capped qilian mountains and the rolling mazong mountains, it was on the ancient silk road. zhang qian, the first envoy of emperor wu di of the western han dynasty (206 b.c-24 a.d), crossed it on his journey to the western regions. later, silk flowed to the west through this pass too. the gate-tower of jiayuguan is an attractive building of excellent workmanship. it has an inner city and an outer city, the former square in shape and surrounded by a wall 11.7 meters high and 730 meters in circumference. it has two gates, an eastern one and a western one. on each gate sits a tower facing each other. the four corners of the wall are occupied by four watch towers, one for each.
juyongguan, a gateway to ancient beijing from inner mongolia, was built in a 15-kilometer long ravine flanked by mountains. the cavalrymen of genghis khan swept through it in the 13
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