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| Jiayuguan Pass |
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Located 4 kilometers west of Jiayuguan city on the northwest part
of Gansu Province, Jiayuguan is the western end of the Great Wall
of the Ming Dynasty as well as the most magnificent and best-preserved
pass among the over thousand passes along the Ming Great Wall, known
as "Impregnable Pass Under Heaven" . It took 168 years (1372-539)
to build this strategic outpost.
Jiayuguan Pass, located at the narrowest ravine of Hexi Corridor
is made up of an inner city, wengcheng (barbican entrance to the
city), luocheng (outer round defensive wall), outer city and moat.
It a multi-tier defensive works. Its western outer wall extends
southward to the bank of Taolai River at the foot of Qilian Mountain,
and its northern end links with a hidden wall going halfway up the
Heishan Mountain. Jiayuguan Pass is entrenched right in the ravine
sandwiched in between two high mountains. So it reputed as Impregnable
Pass Under Heaven where one defender can ward off the attack by
ten thousand foes.
The inner city, standing right at the center of the Pass, is surrounded
by 6 meter-high hardened loess as the base plus 3 meter-high brick
wall on the top. 1.7 meter-high brick buttress aligned with crenels
and lookout holes are built on top of the wall. Between crenels
of the western wall there are notches for lamps. Beneath the notches,
are slanting openings for shooting. The city has four corner towers,
and a gate tower in the middle of each of the two north to south
walls. The eastern and western gates are protected by wengcheng
(barbican entrance), which connects with the inner city in a zigzag
way. Once the enemy enters the wengcheng, he will find himself like
a turtle in a jar waiting to be caught.
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