Jiayuguan Pass
Part Of The UNESCO World Heritage Site The Great Wall (1987); National 5A Tourist Attraction · Jiayuguan, Gansu
The great fortress at the western end of the Ming-dynasty Great Wall, guarding the narrowest point of the Hexi Corridor between the snow-capped Qilian Mountains and the Black Mountains in the Gobi Desert of Gansu. Built from 1372, it was the last outpost of imperial China on the Silk Road: beyond its gates lay the lands the Chinese called outside the pass, and exiles, merchants and soldiers left through them with a sense of leaving the civilised world. Its rammed-earth and brick walls enclose an inner fort with three tall gate towers, a barbican and a Guandi temple, all remarkably complete, and legend says the builders calculated the bricks so precisely that only one was left over - still displayed on a ledge above a gate. From the fortress the Wall runs off across the desert: north to the steep Overhanging Great Wall climbing a ridge of the Black Mountains, and south to the First Beacon Tower, perched on the edge of a deep river canyon. The Great Wall Museum explains its whole history.
Jiayuguan Pass Scenic Area, Jiayuguan City, Jiayuguan, Gansu, China
Daily; peak season (May-October) about 8:00-18:30 with ticket sales ending at 18:00; off-season opens about 9:00 with shorter hours. The three sites keep similar daytime hours.