Jiayuguan

Jiayuguan, known as the 'First and Greatest Pass under Heaven', is located in the narrowest part of the valley 5 kilometers west of Jiayuguan City in Gansu Province. The city walls on both sides of the pass stretch across the desert and Gobi, connecting to the Heishan Cliff Great Wall in the north and the 'First Pier' in the south. It is the westernmost pass of the Ming Dynasty's Great Wall and was historically known as the 'Throat of Hexi'. Due to its strategic location and majestic architecture, it was referred to as the 'Key to the Borderlands'. Jiayuguan was an important military fortress on the ancient Silk Road and is one of the three great wonders of the Great Wall of China (with Shanhaiguan in the east, Zhenbeitai in the middle, and Jiayuguan in the west). Jiayuguan was built in the fifth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty (1372) and consists of an inner city, outer city, barbican, jar city, moat, and the Great Wall extending to the north and south, with a total length of about 60 kilometers. The defense system of the Great Wall, with its watchtowers, beacon towers, and fortresses scattered like stars in the sky, is composed of three lines of defense: the inner city, outer city, and moat. This overlapping and mutually supportive structure formed a defensive system with a beacon tower every five li, a pier every ten li, a fortress every thirty li, and a city every hundred li. Jiayuguan is a World Cultural Heritage site, a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction, a key national cultural relics protection unit, and a national patriotism education demonstration base. Major attractions include the Jiayuguan Pass, the Overhanging Great Wall, the First Pier of the Great Wall, the Wei-Jin Tombs, the Heishan Petroglyphs, Mulan City, the 'July 1' Glacier, and the Gliding Base, among others.