Yang Pass 阳关

About Yang Pass

The old fortified gateway has not survived as an intact gate: the beacon on Dundun Mountain and the surrounding desert are the more direct physical links with the frontier landscape. A modern museum interprets travel, defence and the pass’s place in Chinese memory. Distinguishing that interpretation from the surviving ruins makes the visit more rewarding.

Yang Pass was fortified during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty and reinforced around 120 BCE, serving as a frontier defence post on the route into the Western Regions and a major checkpoint on the Silk Road. It lies south of Yumen Pass, from which its name derives, and together with Yumen Pass formed the “two passes” (二关), the two most important western checkpoints of ancient China. The fortress had fallen into ruin by around 900 CE, and the surviving Han- and Jin-dynasty remains are designated a Gansu provincial-level cultural relic protection unit (甘肃省文物保护单位).

The pass is closely tied in Chinese literature to the theme of sorrowful parting and is a recurring element of frontier poetry, since it was the last stop before travellers left China for the Western Regions. Wang Wei's farewell poem for a mission to Anxi inspired “Three Variations on Yang Guan” (阳关三叠), a qin song known in the Tang dynasty as Weicheng Melody (渭城曲) and included in the Yizhou Daqu (伊州大曲) collection; it was lost by the Song dynasty, though Su Shi (苏轼) recorded having seen an old version. The earliest surviving score, dated 1491, preserves eight sections, only the first of which follows Wang Wei's original poem.

What to look for

• The surviving beacon on Dundun Mountain.
• Yangguan Museum’s interpretation of the frontier and Silk Road travel.

Location & getting there

Getting to Yang Pass

Travel to the Yangguan Museum entrance in the Nanhu area of Yangguan Town, southwest of Dunhuang. Confirm the current route from the museum to the beacon viewing area and arrange your return road transfer.