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Yangguan, a place you must visit!

Issuing time:2024-07-30 17:45

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Yangguan, an ancient city buried by quicksand, an ancient city sung by literati and poets of all ages. There are many places made famous by Tang poetry, but there has never been a place like Yangguan:

It was lost and abandoned a long time ago, but it was suddenly "resurrected" in Tang poetry. It has since been chanted and sung through successive generations without interruption, and it remains a tourist attraction today.
All this is thanks to the poet Wang Wei's classic farewell poem "Sending Yuan Er to Anxi》：

The morning rain in Weicheng moistened the dust, and the green willows in the guest house looked new.

I urge you to drink another cup of wine, for there will be no friends west of Yangguan.
People in the Ming Dynasty commented on this poem, saying, "Among the farewell poems of Tang poets, this is the best."
Before leaving, Wang Wei looked at the green willows outside the window of the guesthouse, looked at the bag that his friend had packed, smiled and raised the wine pot, "Another cup, please." After the separation, he would not find an old friend with whom he could drink and talk like this. The friend would definitely not refuse this cup of wine and drink it all in one gulp.
This is the style of the Tang people. They usually don't shed tears or lament, or try to dissuade others. Their vision is far-reaching, and their life path is broad. They say goodbye frequently, and their steps are free and unrestrained.The birth of this classic may have originated from a "mistake".

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Yangguan Ancient Site

From ancient times to the present, the road to Yangguan has always been lonely and desolate. This famous pass, located 70 kilometers southwest of today's Dunhuang City, attracts many people every year to visit the Han and Tang dynasties.

Of course, there are few traces of history, but you can still feel it in the desert sand. The only historical relic is a beacon tower from the Han Dynasty, standing on Dundun Mountain. At the latest during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, this remaining beacon tower was called "Dunduner" by the immigrants who moved here, and the mountain was therefore called "Dundun Mountain".

In 1944, the famous archaeologist Xiang Da visited Yangguan and described this beacon tower as "the eye of Yangguan".

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Remains of Han Dynasty Beacon Towers

There is also a place called "Gudongtan" by the locals. It is said that there are many ancient coins, pottery fragments, weapons and other relics scattered among the sand dunes of Gudongtan, which can be picked up at will, so the locals say "If you enter Gudongtan, you will not return empty-handed."

In 1972, the Cultural Relics Survey Team conducted an archaeological survey of Gudongtan and discovered a large area of ​​rammed earth wall ruins. After excavation, neatly arranged house foundations and city wall foundations were unearthed. Judging from the distribution of ruins and cultural relics, archaeologists believe that Gudongtan is the site of the ancient Yangguan Pass and was once a prosperous border town.

However, there is still no consensus on when the ancient city of Yangguan was destroyed, and there are many different opinions.

It is generally believed that the ancient city of Yangguan was lost in the late Tang Dynasty. From a general trend, due to the rise of the Maritime Silk Road in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the Silk Road was no longer the only channel for communication between the East and the West, and the importance of Yangguan as a pass gradually declined. But more importantly, after the An-Shi Rebellion, Tubo rose and occupied the Hexi Corridor, which cut off this traditional transportation route and completely abandoned Yangguan.

But judging from historical documents, the abandonment of Yangguan may have happened earlier. Wang Wei, a poet in the prime of the Tang Dynasty, wrote "Sending Yuan Er to Anxi" and said "Go west through Yangguan", but his friend Yuan Er could not have gone through Yangguan to Anxi Protectorate.

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Dunhuang murals Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions

Yangguan was established during the Yuanding period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (116-111 BC). Like Yumenguan, it was a pass set up in response to the westward expansion of the Han Dynasty. The "Book of Han: The Western Regions" clearly describes the changes in the western borders of China before the Western Han Dynasty:
Since the decline of the Zhou Dynasty, the Rong and Di tribes lived in the north of the Jing and Wei rivers. When the Qin Shihuang repelled the Rong and Di tribes, he built the Great Wall to demarcate China, but it did not extend westward beyond Lintao (now Dingxi City, Gansu Province). When the Han Dynasty rose to the time of Emperor Xiaowu, he conquered the four barbarians and expanded his prestige. Zhang Qian was the first to open up the Western Regions. Later, the General of the Cavalry defeated the Xiongnu's right land and conquered Hunxie,King Xiu Tu, and then the land was emptied, and a residence was built to the west. At first, Jiuquan County was established. Later, people were gradually moved to fill it. Wuwei, Zhangye, and Dunhuang were established, making four counties in total, and occupying two passes.
The hundred-year war between the Western Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu was reversed during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. After Zhang Qian opened up the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty began to plan a counterattack against the Xiongnu who had invaded the border counties for many years. In the second year of Yuanshou (121 BC), the famous general Huo Qubing severely damaged the Xiongnu in Hexi. In the following 10 years, the Han Dynasty successively established four counties, Jiuquan, Wuwei, Zhangye, and Dunhuang, and built the Great Wall from Jiuquan to the west of Dunhuang. To the west of Dunhuang County, Yumen Pass and Yangguan were set up on the north and south sides to guard the gates from the Western Regions to Hexi, completing the military and political layout of "four counties and two passes".
The layout of the four counties and two passes basically determined the northwest corner of the Western Han Dynasty's territory. However, this area has long been a battleground for the Han and ethnic minorities. In some eras, the territory was expanded westward to the west of the Pamir Mountains and the Western Regions Protectorate was established. In other eras, the territory was shrunk to the east of Yangguan. Therefore, this is not a border in the sense of territory, but a border in the sense of culture. Yangguan and Yumenguan are the boundaries between the Great Wall and the Central Plains, and even more so the boundaries between Chinese culture and foreign cultures.
When Wang Wei said "there are no old friends west of Yangguan", he was emphasizing in cultural terms that after passing Yangguan, it is no longer the traditional Chinese country and hometown, but a completely unfamiliar and heterogeneous cultural area where it is difficult to meet "old friends".
Yangguan here is just a cultural metaphor and the use of historical allusion. It does not really mean that the Tang people had to go through Yangguan to go to Anxi Protectorate.

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Dunhuang Yangguan Scenic Area

The truth is that Yangguan, the legendary starting point of the southern Silk Road, was probably completely abandoned at the end of the Yongping period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (around 75 AD), which was related to the expansion of the Han Dynasty's territory at that time.

During the Han Dynasty, there were two roads leading from Chang'an to the Western Regions: one went west from Yumen Pass, along the southern foot of Beishan (today's Tianshan Mountains) through Yiwulu (today's Hami, Xinjiang), Qiuci (today's east of Kuche, Xinjiang), Shule (today's Kashgar, Xinjiang), etc., crossed the Pamir Mountains, and reached Dayuan (today's Fergana area in Uzbekistan) and Kangju (today's Kazakhstan), which was called the Northern Tianshan Road.

The other route went out of Yangguan, along the northern foot of Nanshan (now Kunlun Mountains), through Shanshan (near Ruoqiang, Xinjiang),KhotanThe Silk Road was called the Tianshan South Route, which passed through the southwest of Hotan, Xinjiang, Shache, and the western part of the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, across the Pamir Mountains, and westward to Dayuezhi (in Afghanistan) and Parthia (in Iran). This is the world-famous Silk Road.

Before the sea route was opened, exchanges between China and the West all relied on these two roads. Therefore, Yumen Pass and Yangguan became the key places for communication between China and the West.

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Dunhuang Yangguan Museum

"I urge you to drink another cup of wine, for there will be no friends west of Yangguan." The eternal masterpiece "Song of Weicheng" by the great Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei has made Dunhuang and Yangguan the spiritual hometown of the Chinese people.

This place was once a majestic fortress, with caravans passing by and envoys meeting on the road.

There used to be green trees here, crisscrossing streets, and wild horses galloping in the wild.
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Yangguan Pass is located 70 kilometers southwest of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province. It was built in the 1st century BC during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty. It is an important frontier pass, the throat of the Silk Road, and a channel for cultural exchanges between China and the West. In the minds of the Chinese people, "Yangguan Avenue" is a synonym for light, hope and a bright future.

You are welcome to experience the splendor and glory of the historical culture of the Han and Tang dynasties, appreciate the danger and vastness of the desert's natural scenery, and experience the simplicity and naturalness of the local customs and people.


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