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Jayuguan

Jayuguan, the best preserved of all Great Wall passes, is in the west of Jayuguan City, Gansu Province. It was known in ancient times as the first pass of Hexi and a key passageway of the Silk Road.

The castle begin in 1372 (the 5th year of the Ming Hong Wu reign). It got its name for being located on the Jayu Highland between the Wenshu and Heishan mountains at the foot of the Qilian Mountains. The pass is shaped like a trapezoid. The west wall is about 166 meters, the east wall 154 meters and the north and south are both 160 meters. The gatetower, watchtower and embrasures brick and the rest is rammed earch. The pass has a good layout with a three-storied gatetower, 4 corner towers and consisting of an inner city wall, outer city wall, trenches, and fortifications with walls around them.

Once abandoned, Jiayuguan was rebuilt and reinforced in 1539 (the 18th year of the Ming Jiajing reign) and garrisoned. In the Qing Dynasty it became an office for checking merchants and travelers.

The architectural complex of the castle is magnificently exquisite. Its towers and pavilions have a classic beauty and grandeur with their roofs upturned at the end of the ridges. The castle commands fascinating views of the boundless GObi Desert and the snowcapped Qilian Mountains.

SIMATAI Located on the boundary of Gubeikou Town, Miyun County, Beijing, and Luanping County, Hebei Province, the 19 kilometer Simatai began in the first year of the Ming Hong Wu reign. The design and construction of this section of the Great Wall are exquisite and striking. Every one of the 35 watchtowers is original and different. The Tower for Viewing the Capital, 986 meters above sea level, is constructed on sheer precipices, commanding a panoramic view of "snow-capped Wuling" in the east, rolling mountains like "crouching tigers and coiling dragons" in the west, a "mirror-like reservoir" in the south and "verdurous Yanshan Mountain" in the north. Just as outstanding are the natural sceneries at Heavenly Ladder, Fairy Bridge, Heavenly Pool and the Spring of Manderin Duck and Drake which compliment the scenes of the man-made Great Wall.

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