Jiayuguan Fort is located on a terrace between the Wenshu Mountains on the south and the Heishan (Mountains) on the north, 4.2 miles from the Overhanging Wall.
Wall from the Overhanging Wall to the Fort
The fort was built in 1362 under the command of Ming General Feng Sheng. The craftsman in charge of construction, Yi Kaizhan, ordered all the material needed in advance, and according to legend his planning was so meticulous that when the fort was completed there was only one brick left over. During Ming times the fort marked the westernmost point of Celestial Kingdom, and because many of the various branches of the Silk Road funneled through here the location became known as the “Greatest Pass Under Heaven.”
Jiayuguan Fort
The walls of the fort are thirty-five feet high and 3406 feet around the perimeter.
View from instead the Fort
On the eastern side of the fort is the three-storied Guang-hua Men Gate (Gate of Enlightenment). On the western side is the 56-foot-high Rouyuan Men (Gate of Reconciliation), added to the fort in 1506 by General Duanroheng. Those who passed through this gate were leaving China and entering the desolate land of the barbarians. Traders and adventurers who went voluntarily hoped to gain fortune or fame, but for those who went involuntarily passing through the Rouyuan Gate was their worst nightmare.
The Rouyuan Gate
Disgraced officials sent into exile, condemned criminals, fugitives, desperados, and homeless drifters all crossed here into the empty desert beyond. It was the custom for those leaving to write on the walls of the Gate poems expressing their feelings as they left the familiar world of China for the Unknown. Many were the heart-rending tales told here. Also, after passing through the Rouyuan Gate it as a custom for travelers to throw a stone at the western wall of the fort. According to legend, if the stone bounced off the wall the traveler would someday return to China. If the stone hitting the wall also made an echo one’s affair would prosper. If the stone simply fell noiselessly to the ground after hitting the wall one was destined to die in the wilderness beyond.
From the top of the Rouyuan Gate, beyond the much lower Wenshu Mountains in the foreground, can be seen the glacier-capped 18,000 foot-plus Qilian Mountains. To the north, beyond the Heishan, are the black ridges of the Mazong (Horse’s Mane) Mountains, with peaks up to 7500 feet-high.
Another view of the Great Wall from the Fort to the Wenshu Mountain in the near distance.
Wall from the Overhanging Wall to the Fort
Jiayuguan Fort
The walls of the fort are thirty-five feet high and 3406 feet around the perimeter.
View from instead the Fort
The Rouyuan Gate
