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| Chinese New Year » Great Wall of China » Jiayuguan Pass |
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Meandering its way through the Chinese landscape for 4200miles, the Great Wall culminates at Jiayuguan Pass in the Gobi Desert. The Castle is flanked by two mountains thus making it a natural double walled fortress. This craftiness of the design served to entice invading soilders through the outer wall gate, where they would find themselves surrounded by arches shooting from the tops of both walls. It was said that the designer of the pass calculated his needs so precisely that when it was completed only a single brick was unused.
It is known as the "Impregnable Pass Under Heaven". Built by the Ming dynasty, it is the most magnificent and best-preserved pass among the over thousand passes along the Wall of China.
The Jiayuguan Pass is located at the narrowest ravine of Hexi Corridor. It is hemmed in by high mountains on both side. The pass is shaped like a trapezoid. The pass has a good layout with a three-storied gate tower and 4 corner towers .The fort is surrounded by an inner and an outer wall and further protected by trenches. The Jiayuguan Fort constituted a powerful shield defense in ancient times.
Jiayuguan was rebuilt and reinforced and garrisoned in 1539 (the 7th year of the Ming Jiajing reign). It became an office for checking merchants and travelers in the Qing Dynasty.
The architectural splendour of the castle is exquisite. Its towers and pavilions are of great beauty. The pagoda style roof top adds to the grandeur of the castle. From its roof top the vastness of the Gobi desert can be viewed and so can the snow capped Qilian Mountains.
WengchengEntrance
The inner city, stands right at the center of the Pass. It is surrounded by 6 meter-high hardened loess as the base and a 3 meter-high brick wall on the top. 1.7 meter-high brick buttress is aligned with crenels and lookout holes are built on top of the wall. Between scallops of the western wall there are nicks for lamps. Beneath them there 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, it becomes impossible to escape.
The Great Wall of China is one of the wonders of the world. Know more about this spectacular Wall and its Passes at 123Chinese NewYear.
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