Dunhuang, Gansu Province | Yumen Pass Ruins | Explore the ancient road of a thousand years.

Yumen Pass, also known as Xiaofangpan City, is located on the Gobi Desert about 90 kilometers northwest of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province. It is the most critical pass at the western end of the Great Wall. ❇️Historical background: In the second year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (121 BC), General Huo Qubing swept away the Xiongnu forces in the Hexi Corridor and incorporated the Hexi Corridor into the Han Dynasty. Subsequently, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty successively set up Jiuquan, Wuwei, Zhangye, and Dunhuang counties, and established Yumen Pass and Yangguan, known as "four counties and two passes". Yumen Pass has since become one of the two main roads that control the Silk Road from Dunhuang to the west. It is not only a military fortress, but also a distribution center for merchants and goods. ❇️ Site composition: The Yumen Pass site mainly includes Xiaofangpan City site, Dafangpan City site, Han Great Wall border wall and beacon site (including 20 beacons and 18 sections of the Great Wall border wall site), starting from Cangting Beacon in the east and Xianming Beacon in the west. , Linearly distributed in an area of about 45 kilometers long and 0.5 kilometers wide, centered on the Xiaofangpan City site. ❇️Architectural features: The existing Xiaofangpan City wall is intact, overall square, 24 meters long from east to west, 26.4 meters wide from north to south, 9.7 meters high, all made of yellow glue soil, with an area of 633 square meters, and one door each on the west and north walls. There is a large east-west road under the north slope of the city, which is the historical route of the Central Plains and the Western Regions and the post road. ❇️ Historical significance: Yumen Pass is a must-pass pass on the ancient Silk Road. It witnessed the prosperity and development of cultural exchanges between China and the West, and has important value for studying the history, politics, economy, culture, etc. of the ancient Silk Road. In January 1988, Yumen Pass and the Great Wall Beacon were designated as the third batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council; in June 2014, Yumen Pass site was selected as the "Silk Road, Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor Road Network" jointly applied by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. One of the sites on the "World Heritage List". ❇️Opening hours are 07:00-18:30 (Monday-Sunday from March 10th to April 19th); 07:00-19:00 (Monday-Sunday from April 20th to May 31st); 07:00-20:00 (Monday-Sunday from June 1st to August 19th); 07:00-19:00 (Monday-Sunday from August 20th to February 28th). The ticket price is 40 yuan.