Yangguan Beacon Tower

Yangguan, first built during the Yuanding reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was named because it was located south of Yumenguan during the period of "four counties and two passes" in Hexi. As the gateway to the Western Regions, Yangguan was also an important pass on the southern route of the Silk Road, and a strategic location that ancient military strategists had to fight for. After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, with the decline of the Silk Road, Yangguan was gradually abandoned. The old "Dunhuang County Chronicles" listed Yumenguan and Yangguan as "two pass relics" as one of the eight scenic spots in Dunhuang. Today, the former Yangguan City has long since disappeared, and only a Han Dynasty beacon tower ruins known as Yangguan's ears and eyes remain, standing on Dundun Mountain for future generations to pay tribute to.

The Yangguan beacon tower was built by stacking several layers of soil and one layer of reeds. It is about 4.7 meters high, 8-7.5 meters long and wide at the bottom, and 8-6.8 meters long and wide at the top. Climbing the top of the beacon tower, you can see the whole area of ​​dozens of miles, so it is called "Yangguan's eyes and ears". The beacon towers in the Yangguan area are distributed in a "cross" shape, which is different from the "one" distribution of the beacon towers in the Yumenguan area. With the Yangguan site as the center, there are Dadun, Shanque beacon towers, and Baishan beacon towers to the east, which are connected to Dunhuang County; to the south, there are Nandun and Yuanshanzi beacon towers entering Qinghai; to the west, there are Qingshanliang beacon towers, Haiziwan East, Xidun beacon towers, Hulusi Taidong, Xidun beacon towers, etc. entering Xinjiang; to the north, there are Toudun, Erdun, Lucaojingzi beacon towers, etc., which are connected to Yumenguan, and there are Duwei, Houguan and Saiqiang to form a defense system, showing the core advantage of Yangguan's accessibility.