Juyong Pass 居庸关

About Juyong Pass

The landscape makes the defensive purpose clear: walls rise on the surrounding slopes while the route passes through the valley below. The surviving Cloud Platform adds a different period and form, with its white-marble gateway associated with Yuan-era Buddhist structures that once stood above it. Begin with the valley and platform before choosing an authorized wall climb; seeing the pass at ground level and following the ridge are complementary experiences with different physical demands.

The Qin-era text Lüshi Chunqiu (吕氏春秋) already listed Juyong among ‘the nine strategic passes under heaven.’ Construction of the pass itself began in the Han dynasty, when it served only as a boundary checkpoint between commanderies and was not yet part of the Great Wall system. It was incorporated into the Great Wall during the Northern Wei period, becoming an important checkpoint, and was further expanded and repaired by later dynasties into a major military stronghold northwest of Beijing.

The pass is enclosed by walls on all four sides, with gates to the north and south, each fronted by its own barbican, and watchtowers and beacon towers on either side for signaling. It served as the command center of a five-line defense system running north to south from Chadao Cheng (岔道城) through Badaling (八达岭) and the Upper Pass fort (上关城) to Juyong Pass itself and Nankou (南口). Juyong Pass, Badaling and the surrounding wall together were known as ‘Juyong Diecui’ (居庸叠翠), one of the Eight Views of Yanjing (燕京八景).

The pass lies about 60 kilometers northwest of central Beijing, set in the Guangou valley between the peaks of the Jundu Mountains, a branch of the Taihang range. High mountains rise on both sides along a valley about 20 kilometers deep, giving the terrain a strategically difficult character.

What to look for

• Great Wall across the pass: read the relationship between the defended valley and the walls climbing its sides.
• Cloud Platform: examine the white-marble gateway and the surviving base of the former religious structure.

Location & getting there

Getting to Juyong Pass

Juyongguan is in the Guangou Valley of Changping. Use Juyongguan Great Wall as the destination rather than Badaling, which is a different visitor site farther along the northern corridor.

• Choose a wall segment from the visitor map after arrival; the steep slopes make a complete circuit different from a short gateway visit.