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Yumenguan Pass

YumenguanPass, located on a hillock 90kms northwest of Dunhuang city, is an important pass of the north route on the Silk Road. After Zhangqian served as an envoy to the West Region, a mass of silk and tea from Central China were exported abroad through this pass, and in return, fruit, specialties and religion culture were brought in.

YumenguanPass was also called "SmallSquareCity". The present city was constructed with rammed earth with two gates respectively in its west and north directions. The wall is 10 meters high and its top is 3 meters wide and bottom 5 meters.

Why was the name "SmallSquareCity" replaced by "YumenguanPass"? Legend had said that a jade was set on the gate of "SmallSquareCity" for the sake of ensuring the security of passing trade caravans. So the city was named as "YumenguanPass" since then.

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