Yumen Pass Site

Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows? The spring breeze does not reach Yumen Pass. (Three thousand miles of newly planted willows attract the spring breeze to Yumen Pass) Welcome to the World Cultural Heritage - Yumen Pass Site Scenic Area. I am very happy to provide explanation services for all guests.

Part I Overview of Yumenguan Site

The full name of Yumenguan Site in the World Cultural Heritage List is "Silk Road: Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor Road Network", which was jointly declared as a transnational cultural heritage by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in 2014. It consists of 33 sites, 22 of which are in China, and Yumenguan Site is the most core one. The most outstanding value of Yumenguan Site as a world cultural heritage is that it is a long-distance transportation guarantee for the Silk Road, and it has played an irreplaceable role in the history of nearly a thousand years.

The Yumen Pass Ruins are located at the westernmost end of the Hexi Corridor, more than 90 kilometers east of Dunhuang city and 150 kilometers west of Lop Nur. The surrounding area of ​​more than 100,000 square kilometers is a large area of ​​Gobi desert.

During the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, Yumen Pass and Yangguan were the westernmost ends of China's county system. From there to the west was called the West End, which was the distant place most familiar to members of society at that time.

During the Han and Tang Dynasties, Yumen Pass has always been the geographical dividing line between nomadic economy and agricultural economy, and the cultural dividing line between nomadic civilization and agricultural civilization. Therefore, Yumen Pass and Yangguan have become extremely important geographical marks and cultural symbols of ancient China.

Yumen Pass is the gateway to the unified China and the national gate of ancient China.

Yumenguan was built in a dangerous place. To the north of the site is the Shule River, which is one of the only two major rivers flowing westward in my country, the other major river flowing westward is the Irtysh River. This area is dotted with wetlands of varying sizes and seasonal lakes.

The Yumenguan site area includes a complete Great Wall defense and security system, including castles, pavilions, barriers, beacons, granaries, and military farms. The entire site area covers an area of ​​580 square kilometers. The core area is linearly distributed with the Xiaofangpancheng site as the center, 36 kilometers long from east to west, 1 kilometer wide from north to south, and a total area of ​​60 square kilometers. Various types of remains include 2 city sites, 20 beacons and 18 sections of the Great Wall. It is the most complete Han Dynasty defense system currently preserved in China. The Xiaofangpancheng site, the Dafangpancheng site and the Han Great Wall site around Danggushu are now open to the public.

The earliest record of Yumen Pass in the official history is "Historical Records", which is relatively brief. Ban Gu made more detailed records of the territory and transportation hub of Yangguan and Yumen Pass in "Han Shu" Geography and "Western Regions". Yumen Pass has experienced more than 2,100 years of ups and downs since its establishment during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. It has witnessed the formation of a unified China, the prosperity of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the decline of the late Qing Dynasty, the struggle in modern times and the rise of the contemporary era. It is a historical mark of cultural China and a common memory of the exchange of human civilizations. On June 22, 2014, China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan jointly applied for the Silk Road "Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor Road Network" to be a world cultural heritage, becoming the first example of cross-border cooperation and successful application for heritage.

Part 2: Exhibition Hall Visit

Now, please follow me into the visitor center to visit the Yumen Pass Ruins Exhibition Hall. (Be careful of the steps under your feet) You can take a look at the top of the exhibition hall. This is an enlarged image of the Yumen Pass Han Dynasty bamboo slips. Each Han Dynasty bamboo slip has a number and text content, which corresponds to the cultural relics archives. Most of the Yumen Pass Han Dynasty bamboo slips were unearthed in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty and the early Eastern Han Dynasty. In 1906, the British-Hungarian Stein excavated a small number of Han Dynasty bamboo slips at the Niya Ruins in the north of Minfeng County, Xinjiang. The following year, he excavated more than 700 Han Dynasty bamboo slips from some Han Dynasty border fortress ruins in Dunhuang, Gansu. This was the first time that Han Dynasty bamboo slips were unveiled. Since then, Han Dynasty bamboo slips have been unearthed in Dunhuang. In 1979, archaeologists discovered more than 1,200 Han Dynasty bamboo slips at the Majuanwan Han Dynasty beacon tower ruins west of Xiaofangpancheng in Dunhuang. In 1990, more than 35,000 Han Dynasty bamboo slips were unearthed at the Xuanquanzhi Ruins. So far, more than 40,000 Han Dynasty bamboo slips have been unearthed in Dunhuang.

The Yumen Pass Han bamboo slips preserve a large amount of original information on the ancient Silk Road and have extremely high historical value. These bamboo slips are also the earliest ink-written objects that evolved from Chinese character writing to calligraphy, and have extremely high artistic value. In particular, the cursive bamboo slips in the Yumen Pass Majuanwan Han bamboo slips already have the formal characteristics of calligraphy art and are important historical materials for the study of Chinese calligraphy culture.

Most of the Dunhuang Han bamboo slips are fragments of discarded and destroyed archives at that time. They are mainly made of wood, such as pine, poplar, and tamarisk. In terms of form, they are divided into zha (single-sided single-line writing), liangxing, du, gu (multi-sided stick-shaped wooden strips), fu, quan, jian (some are used to cover documents and letters, and some are used to seal objects), qian, etc. In terms of content, the main part is various public documents and books, as well as private letters related to the lives of officials and soldiers, clothing and bag sealing checks, calendars, medical prescriptions, divination books, multi-nine tables, character books, and other books. The dry climate with little rain and the gravel soil have preserved the Dunhuang Han bamboo slips relatively well, making them authentic historical materials for studying the frontier administration, military affairs, and economic society of the Han Dynasty.

Preface

On August 49, 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out affectionately during his inspection of Dunhuang that Dunhuang culture demonstrates the cultural confidence of the Chinese nation. As the dividing line between agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization in ancient history, Yumenguan opened its mind to accept different cultures from different regions, showing the Chinese atmosphere to the world, becoming a city where Chinese and Rong meet, and thus spreading eastward to the Central Plains. (Master of Chinese studies Ji Xianlin said: "There are only four cultural systems in the world with a long history, vast territory, self-contained system, and far-reaching influence: China, India, Greece, and Islam, and there is no fifth; and there is only one place where these four cultural systems converge, that is, Dunhuang and Xinjiang in China, and there is no second one." Dunhuang, therefore, became a city with a cultural mission on the Silk Road.)

History

In 121 BC, Huo Qubing won a great victory over the Xiongnu, driving them from Wuwei to the west of Lop Nur. The land west of the river was empty for thousands of miles. In order to manage this land, the Western Han Dynasty immigrated more than 700,000 people, settled and guarded the border, and established Wuwei County and Jiuquan County. Ten years later, in 111 BC, Dunhuang County was established from Jiuquan. Later, pavilions were set up from Jiuquan to Yumen, and Yumen Pass and Yangguan were established. From then on, Dunhuang became the gateway to manage the Western Regions. The establishment of Yumen Pass also marked the smooth flow of the entire Silk Road.

Before the establishment of the county, the Dunhuang area had always been a nomadic land for nomadic peoples. In the late Neolithic period, there were Sanmiao, Rong, and Di. During the Qin and Han dynasties, there were Yuezhi and Wusun. Later, Dunhuang was the territory of the Xiongnu. The establishment of the Western Han Dynasty was also the time when the Xiongnu royal court entered its heyday. The territory included most of the Mongolian Plateau, and the entire northwest region was subject to the Xiongnu. Due to the weak material foundation of the nomadic economy, in order to expand the nomadic land, coupled with the impact of climate change, the Xiongnu often crossed the Great Wall to plunder the population and property, causing significant losses of personnel and property in the border areas of the Western Han Dynasty, and seriously threatening the security of the Western Han Dynasty. Since the Xiongnu was in a military advantage at that time, the Western Han Dynasty adopted a policy of marriage to ease the relationship between the two sides, which won the Western Han Dynasty more than 60 years of peaceful development. On the eve of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's accession to the throne, the relationship between the Han and the Xiongnu became tense. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, the national strength had been greatly enhanced, and he decided to use troops against the Xiongnu to eliminate the threat. In order to reduce the social burden, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty decided to contact the Yuezhi, who had a feud with the Xiongnu and had been living in Dunhuang, and attack the Xiongnu from the east and west. In 138 BC, Emperor Wu of Han recruited talented people to go on diplomatic missions to the Western Regions. Zhang Qian volunteered to be the first envoy to the Yuezhi. In 134 BC, Emperor Wu of Han also sent Tang Meng to the southwest twice to open up the Southwest Yi Road, but eventually it was abandoned because of "waste and failure". History finally chose the Hexi Corridor as the main road and direction for exploring the Chinese world. Although Zhang Qian did not achieve his military goal, he opened up the Western Regions, created the famous Silk Road, and opened up a magnificent history of cultural exchange between the East and the West that lasted for thousands of years.

(In 138 BC, Zhang Qian made his first diplomatic mission to the Western Regions. He was detained by the Xiongnu when passing through the Hexi Corridor. It took him more than 10 years to escape. When he continued to move westward and arrived at the Yuezhi after many hardships, the Great Yuezhi at that time were already living in a place with abundant water and grass in Central Asia, living a rich life and had no intention of returning east. From 119 BC to 115 BC, Zhang Qian made his second diplomatic mission to the Western Regions. He established friendly relations with the Wusun Kingdom. His deputy envoys visited Dayuan, Kangju, the Great Yuezhi, Daxia and other countries respectively. With the development of the Han Dynasty's politics and economy, the court continued to send envoys to the countries in the Western Regions, and China had economic and cultural exchanges with the countries of Parthia, Yancai, Tiaozhi, and Shentu. The advanced handicrafts of the Western Han Dynasty, such as silk fabrics, linen fabrics, lacquerware, and ironware, were continuously exported to the countries in the Western Regions, and species such as grapes, pomegranates, carrots, and handicrafts such as colored glaze and Xihai cloth from the west were also introduced into the Central Plains.

At the same time as Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty launched a series of military strikes against the Xiongnu, driving them out of the Hexi Corridor. In 121 BC, the two prefectures of Wuwei and Jiuquan were established, and pavilions were set up to Yanze, and Yangguan and Yumenguan were established. In 111 BC, Zhangye and Dunhuang were separated from the two prefectures. Historically, they were called the Four Hexi Prefectures, and the name of Dunhuang appeared in China's administrative system. Dunhuang is located at the westernmost end of the Hexi Corridor. It is a strategic point to break off the Xiongnu and Qiang, and the gateway to the Western Regions. "Four prefectures and two passes" marked the smooth flow of the entire Silk Road.

Zhang Qian made two diplomatic missions to the Western Regions, during which he gained a detailed understanding of the population, geography, military preparations, products and customs of the Western Regions, which played an important role in the opening of the Silk Road. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty conferred Zhang Qian the title of Marquis of Bowang for his military achievements. Historian Sima Qian praised Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions as "Zaokong", which means "widely opening up the Western Regions". Later generations called Zhang Qian the "pioneer of the Silk Road" and the "first person in China to open his eyes to the world".

Zhang Qian's second successful mission to the Western Regions set off a wave of diplomatic missions, promoted personnel exchanges and trade between the East and the West, spread the power and virtue of the Han Dynasty throughout the world, and greatly changed the development of the Chinese nation. This relief shows the prosperous scene of "envoys coming to the court and Chinese and Rong peoples meeting each other".

Ban Chao Introduction

This bronze statue is of Ban Chao, a famous military strategist and diplomat in the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was born into a family of historians and was the second son of the historian Ban Biao. His elder brother Ban Gu and sister Ban Zhao were also famous historians. He first copied documents for the government, but later gave up his pen and joined the army. He followed the chariot commander Dou Gu to attack the Northern Xiongnu. Later, he was ordered by Emperor Ming of Han, Liu Zhuang, to go on a diplomatic mission to the Western Regions and later served as the Protector General of the Western Regions. At the turn of the two Han dynasties, Wang Mang's new policy treated the Western Regions roughly, leading to turmoil in the Western Regions. In addition, the national strength declined in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Xiongnu rebelled again. Ban Chao managed the Western Regions for 31 years and adopted the strategy of "using barbarians to control barbarians". Without consuming the central government's finances and troops, he quelled local rebellions and achieved peace in the Western Regions. He also made great contributions to the restoration of the Silk Road and the promotion of ethnic integration. He was granted the title of Dingyuan Hou and was known as "Ban Dingyuan". Ban Chao had been in a remote area for a long time. When he was nearly 70, he missed his homeland. In 100 AD, Ban Chao wrote to the emperor, "The custom of the barbarians is to fear the young and despise the old... I don't want to go to Jiuquan County, I just hope to enter Yumen Pass alive." People used to think that Ban Chao was homesick and asked to be discharged from the army and return to the countryside. Ban Chao's sister Ban Zhao then wrote to the emperor and explained the reason. "The nature of the barbarians is to be rebellious and despise the old. Chao has been in the land for a long time and has not been replaced. I am afraid that he will open the source of treason and rebellion." It means that Ban Chao is 70 years old and his hair and beard are completely white. The custom of the Western Regions is to respect the young and despise the old. If a young successor is not selected quickly, it may cause civil strife in the Western Regions. Only then did Emperor He of Han, Liu Zhao, understand the sincere heart behind the words "I do not wish to go to Jiuquan County, I only wish to enter Yumen Pass alive". Seeing his earnest words, the emperor quickly summoned Ban Chao back to Luoyang. In August 102, Ban Chao returned to Luoyang, but his condition worsened. The emperor specially sent imperial physicians to diagnose and deliver medicine. Unfortunately, a month later, in September 102, Ban Chao, who had a noble character, was loyal to the country and was both brave and courageous, passed away.

"Outside the Yumen Pass, horses neigh, and the extraordinary achievements of Dingyuan will be remembered for all eternity. Thirty years of bravery and heroism still exist, who does not talk about Ban Chao of the Han Dynasty?"

(In the 100 years of the 20th century, 7 batches of bamboo and wooden tablets totaling 2,285 were unearthed from the ruins in Yumen Pass. 1. In 1907, during Stein's second expedition to Central Asia, he unearthed 705 bamboo slips from the ruins of a Han Dynasty beacon tower. The original bamboo slips are now in the British Library. The explanations and photos are in the book "Falling Slips in the Quicksand" written by Chinese scholars Wang Guowei and Luo Zhenyu. 2. In 1915, during Stein's third expedition to Central Asia, he obtained another 84 Han Dynasty bamboo slips from the ruins of a Han Dynasty beacon tower in Yumen Pass, the same location as the previous one. The bamboo slips are now in the British Library. The plates and explanations are in the book "Wooden Slips from the Western Frontier of Han and Jin Dynasties" written by Chinese scholar Zhang Feng. 3. In 1920, Zhou Bingnan, the commander of the Dunhuang garrison, excavated 17 Han bamboo slips near Xiaofangpan City. The original bamboo slips are now in the Dunhuang Research Institute. 4. In the spring of 1944, Xia Nai and Yan Wenru, archaeological team of the Academia Sinica and the Northwest Scientific Expedition Team, obtained 49 Han bamboo slips near Xiaofangpan City. The original bamboo slips are now in the Taipei Central Library. The bamboo slips and explanations are in Xia Nai's article "Newly Acquired Dunhuang Han Bamboo Slips". 5. In 1979 In 1981, the Gansu Provincial Cultural Relics Team and Dunhuang County Cultural Center discovered 1,217 Han Dynasty bamboo slips at the Majuanwan Beacon Site, 11 kilometers west of Yumen Pass, when investigating the Han Dynasty beacon tower site. This was the largest number of bamboo slips ever found. The earliest dated bamboo slip was the first year of Yuankang in the Western Han Dynasty (65 BC), and the latest dated bamboo slip was the second year of Emperor Xinzang (21 AD). The bamboo slip images and explanations are in the book "Dunhuang Han Dynasty Bamboo Slips". The original bamboo slips are now in the collection of the Gansu Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute. 6. In March 1981, the Dunhuang County Museum found a Han Dynasty bamboo slip in the northeast of Yumen Pass. 76 bamboo slips were recovered from the beacon tower ruins. The earliest dated slip was from the 7th year of Emperor Zhaodi's reign in the Western Han Dynasty (80 BC), and the latest was from the Xinmang period. The images and explanations of the slips are in the Dunhuang Han Bamboo Slips, and the original slips are now in the Dunhuang Museum. 7. Between 1986 and 1988, the Dunhuang Museum obtained another 137 Han bamboo slips during the cultural relics survey. Most of these Han bamboo slips belonged to the documents and archives of the Yumen Duwei, Zhongbu Duwei and Yihe Duwei of the Dunhuang County in the Han Dynasty. The images and explanations of the slips are also in the Dunhuang Han Bamboo Slips. The original slips are in the Dunhuang Museum.

Image

These two bricks are portrait bricks unearthed from tombs in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Dunhuang was relatively remote due to its remote location and the society was relatively stable. In order to avoid the disaster of war, all the families from the Central Plains moved westward to Hexi, and some of them came to Dunhuang. During the Pre-Qin Dynasty, a large number of people immigrated to Dunhuang. During this period, the population size of Dunhuang reached the peak of feudal history, with the registered household population exceeding 100,000. Several consecutive Dunhuang governors were honest and promising, and the farming economy further developed. Family members came to Dunhuang to open schools, teach students, and write books. , so that the authentic Chinese culture can be preserved, inherited and continued in Dunhuang, creating a peak in Dunhuang's historical, cultural and economic development. (Pictures of sowing and picking mulberries) reflect people’s life scenes at that time.

The “Three Wonders and Three Connections” of the Silk Road

From Wang Mang's new policy to the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Silk Road experienced "three cuts and three connections". Wang Mang's tyranny caused turmoil in the Western Regions, and the Silk Road was cut off. This is called "the first cut". In the 16th year of Yongping (73 AD), Ban Chao was ordered to go to Shanshan as an envoy. With the courage of "you can't get a tiger cub without going into the tiger's den", he killed the chief and deputy envoys of the Xiongnu. The king of Shanshan was shocked and surrendered, and the Han Road was restored. This is called "the first connection". Three years later, the Xiongnu controlled Yiwulu, and the Han Road was cut off. This is called "the second cut".

In the ninth year of Yongyuan in the Han Dynasty (97 AD), Ban Chao sent his deputy envoy Gan Ying and others to Daqin, and the Silk Road was opened again. This is called "the second opening". In 105 AD, the Protector General of the Western Regions was still unable to control the Western Regions, and the Eastern Han Dynasty issued an edict to dismiss the Protector General, "thus abandoning the Western Regions". This is called "the third closure".

From 123 to 127, the court of the Eastern Han Dynasty sent Ban Chao's son Ban Yong to serve as the chief of the Western Regions. He defeated the Cheshi and Northern Xiongnu successively. In 127, the three kingdoms of Yanqi, Yuli and Weixu surrendered and the Silk Road was reopened. This is called "Three Links".

Big sand table explanation-Silk Road

This sand table shows a schematic diagram of the "Silk Road: Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor Road Network". The Silk Road is more than 8,700 kilometers long, with more than 4,000 kilometers in China. The starting point is Chang'an, which is now Xi'an, and the end point is on the Mediterranean coast. The Silk Road is mainly divided into three sections, Chang'an to Dunhuang is the eastern section, Dunhuang to Congling (Pamir Plateau) is the middle section, and the west of Congling is the western section. The eastern section is mainly divided into three routes. One is from Chang'an to the north, through Guyuan, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, to Dunhuang. One is from Chang'an to the west to Tianshui, Lintao, Lanzhou, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and arrive at Dunhuang. One is from Chang'an to Tianshui, Lintao, Fuqicheng, Zhangye, Jiuquan to Dunhuang. The middle section is from Dunhuang, divided into the South Road, the Middle Road and the North Road. The South Road is through Yangguan to Ruoqiang, Qiemo, Yutian, Pishan, Shache to Congling. The middle route is from Yumen Pass to Loulan, Yanqi, Qiuci, Gumo, Shule and then to Pamirs. The northern route is from Yumen Pass, Hami, Gaochang, Urumqi and Suiye. The western route reaches the Mediterranean coast. The three routes all meet in Dunhuang.

The low-lying part of the sand table is the Tari Basin, in the middle of which is the world's second largest desert, the Taklimakan Desert, which is known as the Sea of ​​Death. The environment along the way is very harsh. The Silk Road always travels along the edge of the basin, looking for intermittent oasis rivers.

The "Hexi Corridor" belongs to the depression zone at the edge of the Qilian Mountains geosyncline. During the Himalayan movement, the Qilian Mountains rose sharply, and the corridor received a large amount of alluvial and flood deposits since the Cenozoic era. The melting snow of the Qilian Mountains formed several rivers in the corridor, forming a transportation route for travel between the vast northern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the large Gobi desert area south of the Mongolian Plateau, becoming an important "passage" to the West in ancient China. The route of this section is relatively simple, starting from Wushaoling in the east and ending at Yumenguan in the west, with a length of about 1,000 kilometers from east to west, passing through major cities such as Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Guazhou, and Dunhuang, all located in Gansu Province, China. (Learning materials)

The Silk Road route during the Western Han Dynasty

Starting from Chang'an, passing through the Hexi Corridor to Dunhuang, the route is divided into two north-south routes along both sides of the desert:

Southern Route: From Dunhuang, through Loulan, Khotan, Shache and other places, across the Pamir Mountains to Dayuezhi (in present-day Afghanistan), Parthia (Persia, present-day Iran), and further west to Tiaozhi (present-day Iraq and Arabia) and Daqin (ancient Roman Empire, present-day Mediterranean coast).

Northern Route: From Dunhuang, pass through the former royal court of Cheshi (now Turpan), Qiuci (now Kuqa), Shule (now Kashgar), etc., cross the Pamir Mountains, reach Dayuan (now Fergana, Russia), Kangju (now Samarkand), then go southwest through Parthia and reach Daqin.

After the Han Dynasty, a new road was opened to the north of the two north-south roads, thus forming three routes west of Dunhuang. However, no matter how it changed, the Silk Road had to pass through Dunhuang. Dunhuang became the last and most important life support base for the Central Plains to enter the Western Regions, and the throat key on the Silk Road.

In 1877, German geographer von Ferdinand von von Ferdinand formally proposed the concept of "Silk Road" in the first volume of his book "China: The Result of Personal Travel and Research Based on It". He named the trade route from western China to Europe as "the Silk Road, which was a transportation route between China and the Hetian area (referring to the area between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers) and between China and India with silk trade as the medium from 114 BC to 127 AD". This name has been widely recognized and used by academia and society.

Distribution map of Yumenguan ruins--small sand table

What we are seeing now is the distribution of the Yumenguan site. The Yumenguan site is 45 kilometers long from east to west and 1 kilometer wide from north to south. There are 18 sections of the Great Wall, 20 beacons and two city sites in the territory. The red lines we see are the Han Great Wall, and the raised dots are beacons. We are now in the exhibition hall of Xiaofangpan City. The entire site is linearly distributed with Xiaofangpan City as the center. The Great Wall on the west side of Xiaofangpan City leads to Lop Nur (towards Xianmingsui), the Great Wall on the south side leads to Yangguan (towards Nanyidun), and the Great Wall on the northeast side of Xiaofangpan City leads to Dafangpan City. There are three parts of the Yumenguan site open to tourists now, Xiaofangpan City (Yumenguan), the Han Great Wall in the area of ​​Danggusui (5 kilometers west of Xiaofangpan City), and Dafangpan City (13 kilometers northeast of Xiaofangpan City). There are saltwater and freshwater lakes and rivers in the site. There is Nanyuan Lake in the south of Xiaofangpan City, Yangshui Haizi in the north, and a river called Shule River 7 kilometers away from the north. "Shule" means "abundant water" in Mongolian. It is an inland river flowing from east to west, originating from the Qilian Snow Mountain and finally flowing into Lop Nur.

——The landscape paintings on the wall are the beautiful scenery of the two passes of Dunhuang. This is the Yangguan site, where you can see the panoramic view of the Yangguan Gudongtan and the Dundunshan Beacon Tower. Yangguan is located in Yangguan Town, 70 kilometers southwest of Dunhuang City. It is named because it is located south of Yumenguan. As the gateway to the Western Regions, Yangguan is an important pass on the southern line of the Silk Road.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established four counties and occupied two passes in the Hexi Corridor and built the Great Wall. The entire set of defense projects and organizational systems with the Great Wall as the main body is called the Great Wall Military Defense System. It includes management and command institutions, beacon transmission systems, garrison systems, post and communication systems, and military supply and farming systems.

——The beacon system refers to the beacon towers, fortification walls and stored beacon materials built by the Great Wall garrison soldiers for warning, and the system used to transmit military information by burning fireworks. The beacon towers in the picture are from the Han Dynasty. The beacon towers were built mainly for observation and defense. There are 20 remaining beacon towers in the Yumenguan Site Protection Area, and the remaining height of the beacon towers ranges from 0.85 meters to 9 meters.

—— Beacon towers In the Han Dynasty bamboo slips, they were called "pavilions", "flint towers", "pavilion fire towers", "pavilion barriers", etc. The Yumen Pass ruins include the Cangting Fire Tower, Majuanwan Fire Tower, Xianming Fire Tower and other beacon towers used for surveillance;

——Sai Wall and Bian Wall In the Han Dynasty, the Great Wall was called Sai or Bian Wall, which was the border line of the Han Dynasty's defense. Together with beacon towers, beacon materials, and beacon systems, it formed a beacon transmission system. The Han Dynasty Great Wall was built on dangerous terrain, and cliffs and rivers could all be used as barriers, so the wall of the Han Great Wall was not continuous like the Ming Great Wall. The Yumenguan site includes the border wall sections of the Xiquandun Great Wall, the Danggusui Great Wall, and the Yumenguan South Branch Great Wall;

——The garrison system refers to the barriers, docks, forts and garrison organizations where the troops are stationed.

—— A fortress is a garrison city with a circumference of about 1000 square kilometers. A commander is in charge of a fortress. At the same time, a fortress is also a lower level of defense than a commander. The chief officer is called a fortress officer or a commander.

——Wu is a small city with a circumference of several hundred steps and a garrison of troops.

——A high platform was built with earth. Fire was burned during the day and a beacon was raised at night. The chief officer was called the tunnel chief.

The Yumen Pass ruins include the Majuanwan Fort and the Houkengdun Fort.

——Post and carriage transportation system Post and carriage transportation system includes transportation facilities for temporary accommodation, horse change, and supply for personnel delivering official documents or officials, as well as transportation facilities to ensure the safety of military supplies. Facility types include "guan", "zhi", "youtingsui", etc. All of them have strong defense facilities.

——Pass. Passes were an important part of the border defense facilities in the Han Dynasty, and were mostly located on post roads. The Yumen Pass Ruins include Yumen Pass, which was an important traffic pass.

——Zhi, Youtingsui. Zhi or Youtingsui were facilities for rest and supplies for people traveling during the Han Dynasty. The Yumenguan site includes the Xiaofangpancheng site, which was the "Yumenzhi", and Qianqiusui, Dunziwandun, and Cangtingsui, which were used as post stations;

——Military Supplies and Farming System Refers to the farmland, smelting, salt production and trading markets that are equipped to ensure the food, clothing and military supplies of military defense personnel, and are either integrated with the garrison fortress or built separately. Facility types include "warehouse", "storehouse" and "cabinet".

——Granary A granary is a facility used to manage and store grain. There is a "Chang'an granary" at the Yumenguan site, commonly known as Dafangpancheng.

The site selection environment of the complete defense system of Yumenguan The Yumenguan site is located in the Danghe alluvial plain and the Shulehe valley plain in front of the Qilian Mountains. It is a bedrock medium-low mountain alluvial Gobi inclined plain, with aeolian sand dunes and wind erosion Gobi landforms. At the same time, there are rivers and lake beaches in the Gobi desert, which together form precious oasis areas. The climate of this area is extremely arid inland climate, with little rain. Except for the wetland oasis, the vegetation in the area is sparse, with plants such as camel thorn, Achnatherum splendens, Lophatherum venetum, reed, and red willow.

Yumen Pass was built according to the terrain conditions and natural dangers, showing the interaction between humans and the natural environment. It is mainly manifested in the following two aspects:

1. The Chengzhangyi is located near the water.

Xiaofangpan City is located between Yangshui Haizi and Nanyuan Lake, with Dioniu Spring in the northwest of the city; Dafangpan City is located on the south side of Shule River and Dongtiao Lake, with Dongquankou in the southeast of the city; thus, the precious water and wetland resources in the area were utilized, which on the one hand ensured the water supply for the stationed troops in the city, and on the other hand used the lake beach as a barrier to enhance the defensiveness.

2. The Great Wall beacon towers were built in dangerous places

The direction of the Great Wall's side walls and the setting of beacon towers are based on the undulating terrain. Beacon towers were built on the high wind-eroded terraces for observation and defense. At the same time, the Shule River, Dongtiao Lake, Beiyuan Lake, Yangshui Haizi, Yanchi Bay, Dunzi Bay and other waters served as natural barriers, forming a defensive border together with the artificially built Great Wall side walls.

The overall pattern of the Yumenguan site makes full use of the natural terrain and resources in the area, forming a unique landscape environment, showing human reliance on and utilization of the natural environment. (Learning materials)

——Majuanwan Ruins You can see here are the Majuanwan Ruins, and you can see the structure of the Great Wall of Han Dynasty. It is not as tall and majestic as the Great Wall of Qin Dynasty and the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty. Beacon towers were built on the inside and outside of the Great Wall, and they were mainly used for observation and transmitting military intelligence. Below is the dock courtyard, which can accommodate 3-10 people.

——Ju The one in the display case here is big Ju, which is the security material used for burning the flint and raising the beacon on the beacon tower, tied into bundles with reeds.

Dunhuang is an important intersection of the spread of Chinese and Western civilizations on the Silk Road. The contents of the Mogao Grottoes murals also provide strong evidence for the prosperity of the Silk Road. The murals seen on the wall are from the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, reflecting some scenes of business travel along the Silk Road at that time.

——Gate 103 of the Great Tang Dynasty It mainly tells the story of a wealthy businessman who, under the guidance of a guide, went to the treasure city to get treasures. After going through untold hardships, he traveled through mountains and rivers, and with perseverance, he broke through many obstacles and reached his destination. In this work, the treasure of the treasure city is likened to the Lotus Sutra, and the long journey is likened to the process of cultivation. This is used to compare the process of cultivation to be difficult and arduous, but the merits of cultivating the right fruit are immeasurable. This painting does not use poor mountains and bad waters to show the difficulty of the road, but uses clear green landscape paintings to depict the scene of beautiful mountains and clear waters and rippling blue waves, giving people a refreshing visual effect. This kind of blue-green landscape painting was a popular style in the Tang Dynasty. Li Sixun of the Tang Dynasty was called the ancestor of blue-green landscape painting by the world, but Li Sixun's original works no longer exist today, but the blue-green landscape paintings in the Mogao Grottoes murals are well preserved, and the colors are as new, so they have extremely high research value.

—— "Hu Merchants Encountering Robbers" in Cave 45 of Mogao Grottoes is based on the "Avalokitesvara Sutra". In the picture, there is a group of Hu merchants, led by a man with a high nose and deep eyes. As soon as their caravan turned the hill, robbers with knives rushed out of the valley to rob. The merchants were terrified and showed expressions of panic and begging. If we brush away the religious color in the mural, we will find that it was originally a portrayal of commercial activities in Dunhuang during the Tang Dynasty.

——The "Parable of the Transformation City" in Cave 217 of Mogao Grottoes depicts a group of merchants resting, moving forward and arriving at their destination in a green landscape.

—— "Traveling Merchants" in Cave 296 of Mogao Grottoes, etc. It was painted based on the phrase "building bridges is too weak" in the "Buddha's Sutra on the Field of Merit". In the picture, there is a bridge, and two caravans meet at the bridgehead. On the bridge are merchants from the Central Plains, riding horses and driving donkeys loaded with goods, hurriedly walking to the bridgehead; under the bridge, foreign merchants are leading camels waiting to cross the bridge. The presence of trade content in the Mogao Grottoes murals with religious content shows that the Silk Road trade has become a basic part of social life in the Dunhuang area.

The Sogdians and Uighurs in the picture are depicted mourning for Buddha. In the picture, there are princes from various countries, including maids, Han emperors wearing crowns and long skirts, as well as princes from various ethnic groups such as Tubo, Turks, Uighurs, and countries in South Asia and Central Asia. The various costumes, skin colors and characters carefully painted by the painters reflect the close ethnic relations and extensive international exchanges in the Tang Dynasty.

After the establishment of the Cao family's Guiyi Army regime in the 10th century, in order to make peace with the Ganzhou Uighurs and keep the roads with the Central Plains open, the governor Cao Yijin married the daughter of the Ganzhou Uighur Khan. Among his original wives, the Ganzhou Uighur princess was the first lady.

End of the exhibition hall

The Yumen Pass site is a common cultural heritage of all mankind. The Dunhuang Municipal People's Government is committed to protecting the cultural heritage value of Yumen Pass and the natural ecological environment and geomorphic features of the desert oasis, so that people from generation to generation can feel the value and charm of this relic.

The Silk Road is 3,000 miles long, and Chinese civilization is 8,000 years old. The desert pass has witnessed the prosperity of the Silk Road, and the unique value condensed in it is worth cherishing by all of us.

Next, please go to the Yumenguan Ruins Area for a visit, and please take precautions against the sun.

Part III: Site Visit

——Introduction to Xiaofangpan City The rammed earth barrier in front of you is the landmark building of the Yumenguan site - the Yumen Duwei Mansion of the Western Han Dynasty, commonly known as Xiaofangpan City. It is about 7 kilometers north of the south bank of the Shule River. It is square in shape, built with rammed earth, about 26 meters square, covering an area of ​​about 630 square meters. The wall is 3 meters wide at the top, 5 meters wide at the bottom, and about 10 meters high. There are two gates, the west gate and the north gate. The barrier extends outward for 30 to 100 meters, with traces of dock walls. The Great Wall Fortress Wall runs from east to west, built to the north of Xiaofangpan City and on the south bank of the Shule River.

Many people understand Yumen Pass literally as being related to the jade trade. The first person to put forward this view was Stan Ying. After he unearthed a Han Dynasty bamboo slip with the words "Yumen Duwei" written on it, he combined his own investigation in Xinjiang and believed that there was a jade trade route between Khotan and the Central Plains in ancient times. Later scholars believed that "the beautiful jade of Khotan was transported to the Central Plains through this pass" and named it Yumen Pass. Contemporary research and literature studies have shown that this statement is debatable. So far, few unearthed cultural relics are related to the jade trade, and there is no record in the literature that Yumen Pass has any connection with jade.

In ancient Chinese astronomy, star field division and Huang-Lao theory, Yumen is the gate of the courtyard of Tianzun Palace. In layman's terms, Yumen is the national gate. Emperor Wu of Han newly opened up the Hexi area. Whether from the perspective of national security or geographical features, this piece of land behind us was surveyed as the national gate of the Western Han Dynasty, namely Yumen. Later, a pass was set up to control it, and it was named Yumen Pass.

This was the westernmost point of China's county system during the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, and was also the geographical dividing line between the nomadic economy and the agricultural economy during the Han and Tang Dynasties. It has long been a symbol of the ruling power of the Central Plains dynasties and the key to the Silk Road.

Yumen Pass was a border management agency, whose main functions were military warning and personnel management. It did not store troops in peacetime. In case of border war, troops were dispatched from Dunhuang and Jiuquan counties. In case of particularly major military operations, troops were dispatched by the central government. The highest officer of the Yumen Pass defense agency was Yumen Duwei, whose rank was 2,000 stones, one level lower than the governor of Dunhuang county.

The military early warning system consists of border walls, beacon towers, postal transmission and beacon fire contract systems. The management of people entering and leaving the customs is mainly based on the names and records issued by the central government and the county governor. One is the entry and exit pass. A wooden tablet with the inscription "The wife of an official entering and leaving the customs in the fourth year of Yangshuo" was unearthed at the Yumen Pass site. It is similar to a sealed certificate. The person concerned holds half and the management agency holds half. The wooden texture and text are completely pieced together to be valid. It is inferred that it should be issued by the Yumen Duwei Mansion; another is the pass. People entering and leaving the customs report the specific number of people, the name and quantity of goods, the means of transportation and the quantity to the government in advance. After the government approves it, the information will be copied to the customs defense agency. When entering and leaving the customs, a pass document, also known as a pass certificate, is issued. The management agency will release it after verification. This process is called Guanzhao, that is, entry and exit inspection.

Some people compare Yumen Pass to the customs in ancient times, which is similar but different. The most important difference is that Yumen Pass "checks but does not collect taxes" on people and goods entering and leaving, that is, there is no record of tax payment. Scholars' research shows that there has never been a record of tax collection on the Thousand Mile Silk Road.

In the Han Dynasty, Yumen Pass was the throat of the northern route of the Silk Road, welcoming and seeing off batches of envoys, merchants, monks and laymen, including famous scholars and skilled craftsmen. Among them, there was Ban Chao who gave up his pen to join the army and said, "I dare not hope to reach Jiuquan County, but I hope to go deep into Yumen Pass." There was also a rumor that the Western Regions monk Kumarajiva built the White Horse Pagoda in Dunhuang. There were the footprints of the Parthian prince Anxi Gao who arrived in Luoyang in the second century, and the whereabouts of the Eastern Jin Dynasty monk Faxian who went west to seek the Dharma. These historical pictures of cultural exchanges between China and the West make people feel excited and full of pride. Through Yumen Pass, these merchants and travelers from south to north played a great role in developing and strengthening economic and cultural exchanges between the Central Plains and the various ethnic groups in the Western Regions. The technology and handicrafts of the Central Plains were continuously exported to Western countries, and representative ones included well digging, house building, sugar making and other technologies as well as silk, spices and other items. The species and products of the Western Regions, as well as dance, music and religious culture were successively introduced into the Central Plains.

There are originally winding Great Walls on the east and west sides of Xiaofangpan City, stretching as far as the eye can see. There is also the Great Wall leading to Yangguan in the south. The east-west and south-oriented Great Walls are spread out in a T shape at Yumen Pass, and are opened every 5 kilometers or ten miles. There is a square beacon tower.

To the north, we see a viewing platform on the wind-eroded terrace. When we climb up and look around, we can see Beishan Mountain to the north and Qilian Mountain to the south.

Yumen Pass is 90 kilometers northwest of Dunhuang, and Yangguan Pass is 60 kilometers southwest of Dunhuang, forming a mutually supportive relationship.

Dear guests, the visit to the Xiaofangpancheng Ruins ends here. Thank you for listening. Now we will return to the parking lot and take a bus to visit the Dafangpancheng Ruins.

——Explanation along the way to Dafangpancheng Now we are going to visit Hecangcheng, the granary storage place in the Yumenguan ruins. Local people call it Dafangpancheng. It is 13 kilometers away from the Xiaofangpancheng ruins and takes about 10 minutes by car. Speaking of the Silk Road, we have to mention a person, he is Zhang Qian, a famous diplomat in the Western Han Dynasty.

When the Western Han Dynasty was established, the Xiongnu royal court entered its heyday. Chu and Han were fighting each other and had no time to look north. "China gave up on the military revolution, so it strengthened itself and had more than 300,000 people who controlled the strings." The Xiongnu were a slave-owning nomadic society with a population of approximately two million. The limited population faced the rapid development of animal husbandry, resulting in labor shortages, insufficient nomadic land, and the shortage of living materials brought by abnormal climate fluctuations to the Xiongnu nomadic economy. In the early Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu relied on fast horses and light cavalry to frequently cross fortresses. They plundered the population and property of the Han Dynasty, and rewarded their members as slaves with prisoners of war and the plundered population, motivating them to fight. Because they were born familiar with the nature of horses and had many good horses, plus the incentives of their reward system, the Xiongnu had a long-term military success. Being at an advantage, the Western Han Dynasty took the initiative to marry the princess and achieve peace. Before and after Han Wu ascended the throne, the Xiongnu frequently crossed the Great Wall to plunder and kill, causing heavy losses to people and property to the Western Han Dynasty. "I feel very sorry for those who were killed on the border." This severe situation forced Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to decide to use troops against the Xiongnu, with the expectation that the Xiongnu would be exterminated, their right arm would be cut off, and stability would be ensured. Years of interaction with the Huns, especially the failure of the Mayi Conspiracy, gave the Western Han Dynasty a clear understanding of the power of the Huns. On the one hand, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty actively purchased and bred good horses and established a powerful cavalry. On the other hand, he also placed his hope on contacting the Yuezhi through envoys to the Western Regions to attack the Xiongnu from east to west. Faced with this unprecedented and important task, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty decided to "recruit capable men" to go to the Western Regions. Zhang Qian, a guard of Weiyang Palace who already had 300 shilang, was the first to be recruited and shouldered the important task of the country. In the Western Han Dynasty, the rank of 300 Shilang was the same as that of the county magistrate of Xiaxian County. Generally speaking, Zhang Qian was already a "county-level" official with a stable and bright future. As an envoy to the Western Region, which is far away and unfamiliar and full of swords and swords, coupled with the harsh desert environment where "there are no birds above and no animals below", life safety is greatly threatened. Without outstanding talent, firm belief and extraordinary perseverance, it is absolutely difficult to be competent. In the end, Zhang Qian went through thirteen years of arduous journey, maintained integrity and fulfilled his mission, and achieved the historical feat of hollowing out the Western Regions. He was called the first "rebel" to unify China.

In the third year of Jianyuan, that is, in 138 BC, Zhang Qian led 99 people on a trip. Emperor Wu of Han specially selected a Xiongnu man named Tang Yifu as a guide for Zhang Qian to travel from Chang'an to the Western Regions via the Hexi Corridor. As soon as he left Lintao (Han Di Dao), he was detained by the Xiongnu.

In order to persuade Zhang Qian to surrender and give up the idea of ​​going on a diplomatic mission to the Yuezhi, the Xiongnu Chanyu trapped Zhang Qian in the north, where he herded sheep and horses. The Chanyu also selected a Xiongnu woman for Zhang Qian to marry. Zhang Qian "kept the Han seal" and stayed in the Xiongnu for ten years.

Because Zhang Qian was "strong, tolerant and trusting, and loved by barbarians", he was resolute, down-to-earth, tolerant, magnanimous, and kept his promises. He was loved by the Huns herdsmen, and Zhang Qian was supervised very loosely. In the sixth year of Yuanguang (129 BC), Zhang Qian, his wife Hu and his father Tangyi escaped from the Huns and headed westward under extremely difficult conditions. During this period, the situation in the Western Regions had changed. Yuezhi has been divided into big Yuezhi and small Yuezhi. Moving westward from the Ili River Basin to the Guishui area near the Aral Sea, the Yuezhi conquered Daxia and built another home on the new land, named Da Yuezhi. Zhang Qian probably understood this situation. After passing through Che Division, he did not head towards the northwest Ili River Basin. Instead, he turned southwest and entered Yanqi. He then traced the Tarim River westward, passed Kuqa, Shule and other places, crossed the Congling Mountains, and reached Da Da. Wan (now Fergana Basin, Uzbekistan).

After Zhang Qian arrived in Dayuan, he persuaded the king of Dayuan with his situation and generous gifts. Dayuan sent guards and guides to send Zhang Qian and others to Kangju (now in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). The king of Kangju then sent people to send them to Dayuezhi.

At that time, the Great Yuezhi had fertile land, abundant resources, and was far away from the Xiongnu and Wusun. The danger of foreign invasion had been greatly reduced, and they had no intention of taking revenge on the Xiongnu. In addition, they thought that the Han Dynasty was too far away from the Yuezhi, and if they jointly attacked the Xiongnu, they might not be able to help them in danger. Zhang Qian and others stayed in the Yuezhi for more than a year, but they were unable to persuade the Yuezhi to form an alliance with the Han Dynasty to attack the Xiongnu. During this period, Zhang Qian crossed the Guishui River and went south to the Lanshi City of Daxia (now Khan Wazirabad in Afghanistan).

In the first year of Yuanshuo (128 BC), Zhang Qian set out to return to China. On the way back, in order to avoid the Xiongnu forces, Zhang Qian changed his marching route. He planned to take the "South Road" in the southern part of the Tarim Basin and the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains, from Shache, through Yutian (now Hotan), Shanshan (now Ruoqiang), and through the Qiang people area in Qinghai before returning to the Han Dynasty. He was captured by the Xiongnu again and detained for more than a year. At the beginning of the third year of Yuanshuo (126 BC), the Xiongnu had an internal strife for the throne, and Zhang Qian took the opportunity to escape back to Chang'an with Tang Yifu. It took a total of thirteen years from the third year of Emperor Wu's Jianyuan (138 BC) to the third year of Yuanshuo (126 BC) when he returned to the Han Dynasty. There were 101 people when he set out, and only Zhang Qian, his wife, and Tang Yifu were left when he returned.

Zhang Qian's first mission to the Western Regions failed to achieve the goal of establishing an alliance with the Great Yuezhi to attack the Xiongnu, but he visited the Western Regions and described the strange things there, which made the influence of the Han Dynasty reach the west of the Pamir Mountains. After returning to Chang'an, Zhang Qian made a detailed report to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty about his experiences, and explained the location, economy, culture, special products, population, cities, and military strength of the countries east and west of the Pamir Mountains, Central Asia, West Asia, and even Parthia and India. These contents are recorded in relatively detail in "Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Dayuan". It is still a precious material for studying the ancient geography and history of the above-mentioned regions and countries. Since then, not only has the connection between the Western Regions and the interior been increasingly strengthened, but also direct exchanges between the Central Plains and Central Asia, West Asia, and even Southern Europe have been established and close. Zhang Qian was therefore named Taizhong Dafu and Tang Yifu was granted the title of "Fengshijun" to commend their achievements.

In the fourth year of Yuanshou (119 BC), Emperor Wu of Han appointed Zhang Qian as General of the Central Army again, led 300 entourages, each with two horses, and carried thousands of gold coins, silk and other valuables, as well as tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, for his second mission to the Western Regions. The purpose of this trip was, first, to persuade the Wusun to return to their old homeland in Hexi in order to cut off the right arm of the Xiongnu; second, to make them a righteous people, expand the circle of friends of the Western Han Dynasty, and spread the power and virtue of the Han Dynasty throughout the world. When Zhang Qian arrived in Wusun, it coincided with the civil strife in Wusun, and he did not achieve the goal of persuading Wusun to return to the east. However, Zhang Qian's deputy envoys visited Dayuan, Kangju, Dayuezhi, Daxia and other countries in Central Asia, expanding the political influence of the Western Han Dynasty and enhancing mutual understanding. Zhang Qian and his entourage, along with dozens of Wusun envoys, returned to Chang'an in the second year of Yuanding (115 BC).

Zhang Qian made two diplomatic missions to the Western Regions, which promoted economic and cultural exchanges between China and the West. After that, the Han Dynasty and the countries in the Western Regions often sent envoys to each other, with hundreds of envoys and hundreds of envoys. This promoted the development of trade between the two sides and formed a scene of "merchants and traders from the Huns, paying homage to the Han Dynasty every day". However, Loulan and Gushi (later called Cheshi) at the eastern end of the Western Regions were still under the control of the Xiongnu and opposed to the Han Dynasty, blocking the Han envoys. In order to ensure the passage to the Western Regions, the Han generals Zhao Po Nu and Wang Hui led 700 light cavalry to raid Loulan in the third year of Yuanfeng (108 BC). Later, Zhao Po Nu led tens of thousands of troops to defeat Gushi, and set up pavilions from Jiuquan to Yumen. At this point, the transportation guarantee system of the Silk Road was fully established.

——Explanation of the Hecang City Ruins Area The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Changling wrote in his poem "Joining the Army": The long clouds from Qinghai darken the snow-capped mountains, and the lonely city looks far away at Yumen Pass. I have worn my golden armor through hundreds of battles in the yellow sand, and I will never return until I have conquered Loulan.

What we see in front of us is Hecang City, where granaries are stored, commonly known as Dafangpan City. It was built in the Western Han Dynasty and is located in a depression beside the Shule River, 13 kilometers northeast of Yumen Pass. Next to it is a large lake, as flat as a mirror, blue and transparent. Reeds, red willows, licorice and other vegetation grow on the shore, and there is a large swamp to the east.

Hecang City was built on a platform more than 3 meters above the riverbed. It was called Hecang City because it was near the Shule River. The city was surrounded by a large Gobi Desert several meters higher than the castle in the north and south, making Hecang City extremely hidden. It is difficult to find this warehouse city unless you come to it. It can be seen that the ancients chose this place to build a military warehouse after careful investigation and design.

Most of the four walls of the Hecang City in front of us have collapsed, and only the north wall is relatively intact. The triangular holes on the upper and lower walls are for good ventilation of the warehouse to prevent the grain from getting moldy.

Hecang City was the largest and most important national granary in the Hexi region during the Western Han Dynasty. It was huge in scale. It was built from south to north and was built with rammed earth in a rectangular shape. It was about 132 meters long from east to west and about 17 meters wide from north to south. A full storage could provide food for 400,000 people for half a year.

When the Han Dynasty sent envoys to the Western Regions, they believed that the biggest difficulty was "lack of food". In order to ensure the supply of food, the Western Han government implemented the military farming system. The garrisons stationed along the Great Wall reclaimed wasteland and planted crops in the river valleys and stored food "to provide food for the Han envoys." There was no large area of ​​land suitable for planting to the west of Hecang City, while the banks of the Shule River to the east were more suitable for planting grain and raising livestock. The harvest from planting and raising was concentrated and stored in Hecang City. The shortage was supplemented by Dunhuang County. The grain and grass of Hecang City were first supplied to the officers and soldiers stationed at Yumen Pass; second, they were supplied to the officials and soldiers going to the Western Regions; third, they were supplied to the princes, officials, and envoys of the Western Regions entering the pass; fourth, they provided military supplies for the army's westward advance. The entry and exit of grain and grass were recorded in the Han bamboo slips of Yumen Pass. Ancient grains such as barley, millet, and broomcorn millet were unearthed in Hecang City, and there were also bamboo slips recording the large-scale harvest and exit of alfalfa and wild rice.

Hecang City is protected by three defensive buildings: the outer wall, the inner wall and the corner piers. There are warning beacons built on the outer commanding heights, which shows the importance of Hecang City.

——Cangting Fire Tower is one of the many beacons in the military defense system of Yumenguan Pass. It is specially used to guard Hecang City and has the function of looking out. Fire towers and beacons are now commonly referred to as beacons. Their functions were different in the past. Fire towers are mainly used for looking out, and the location is chosen on high ground with a wide field of vision. There are fire towers on the Great Wall, and there are also fire towers on important buildings and roads. Beacons are usually built near fire towers, with a total of 3 in a row. The height is much lower than that of fire towers, similar to an earth platform, and is mainly used for lighting fires. The surrounding area of ​​the Hanxiadun Beacon Tower in Dunhuang still retains complete beacons: 1 tall fire tower and 3 small beacons. The Western Han Dynasty was a dynasty with extraordinary creative and innovative spirit, focusing on practical functions and not sticking to regulations. Beacon towers were built according to local conditions. Where there were conditions for building beacons, they were built completely. Where there were no conditions, only fire towers were built without beacons, and the surrounding flat land was chosen for lighting fires. Including the distance between beacons, generally follow the rule of one fire tower every five miles, and stick to the distance customization.

——Explanation of the Han Great Wall Ruins The Han Great Wall runs through the entire Hexi region in Gansu, also known as the "Hexi Han Fortress", with a total length of 1,507 kilometers, with the Yumen Pass Ruins and the Dunhuang Han Great Wall as prominent representatives.

The Han Fortress in Hexi built a barrier and order that could not be easily crossed. No one was allowed to cross it without permission inside or outside the Great Wall. It was the bottom line for peaceful coexistence and a manifestation of the prestige and strength of the Western Han Dynasty.

Hexi Hansai has formed a long-distance transportation guarantee system and is also an important geographical guidance system in the western Gobi Desert, providing navigation to ensure life safety.

The Hexi Han Pass and its customs defense organizations achieved orderly management of foreign exchanges and ensured the order of personnel exchanges and goods transactions between the East and the West.

Overall, Hexi Hansai is a symbol and witness of peace.

The construction of the Hexi Han Fortress extended from Lingju (now Yongdeng) to the northwest to the Mamitu area of ​​West Lake in Dunhuang. Further west into the Lop Nur area, it was mainly composed of pavilions and forts, and was built in five phases.

The first one was in the sixth year of Yuanding (111 BC), when the section from Lingjusai (now Yongdeng County) to Jiuquan was built.

The second time was in the fourth year of Yuanfeng (107 BC), when the section from Jiuquan to Yumen was built.

The third time was in the third year of Taichu (102 BC), when the section from Zhangye to Juyan Lake (today's north of Liangzhou, around Minqin) was built.

The fourth time was in the early years of the Tianhan Dynasty (100 BC), when a watchtower was built from Dunhuang west to Yanze (Lop Nur).

The fifth time was in the third year of Emperor Xuan's Dijie reign (67 BC), when the Awei Pass was built to the area around Dou, which is now the Gulang area.

The beacon towers of the Han Great Wall in Dunhuang are located in the east and west of Dunhuang. They are connected to the Han Great Wall in Guazhou in the east, and run from east to west along the south bank of the Shule River straight into the Yanze (Lop Nur). The total length is 198 kilometers. The Danggu Beacon Tower section in front of you is the most well-preserved section of the Han Great Wall in China, which is built layer by layer with reeds and gravel.

The Great Wall has different names in different historical periods. It was called the Great Wall in the Qin Dynasty, the Saiyuan in the Han Dynasty, and the Bian Wall in the Ming Dynasty, but the general meaning is the Great Wall.

Its architectural structure and style vary from place to place with the characteristics of the terrain. Some places have tall and large brick and stone walls; some places have earth walls; some places have no walls, covered with fine sand, and observing footprints, called "Tiantian". Other places cleverly use swamps that cannot be crossed by people and horses as barriers, which is also a defensive measure. In short, the Han Great Wall in Dunhuang adopts a method of combining local materials with defense, and is built in sections and sections. The principle of construction at that time was: adapting to local conditions. Because there was a lot of gravel and crushed stone in the local area, and there was a lack of loess for ramming, the ancients adopted a very unique construction method. First, red willow and reeds were woven into a frame, and gravel was used in the middle, and layers were stacked. To ensure its stability, reeds were used as pads and soil was laid between each layer. The groundwater with high salt content makes the gravel condense and is extremely solid. Despite thousands of years of wind and rain erosion, it still stands in the Gobi sandstorm, and it is vicissitudes and spectacular. In terms of length, the Han Great Wall is a veritable Great Wall.

Another significant difference is that the beacon towers of the Han Dynasty were all built inside and outside the Great Wall (only one has been found built on the Great Wall so far), while the beacon towers of the Ming Dynasty were all built on the Great Wall.

Tiantian: Generally, a layer of fine sand three to five meters wide is spread on the inner side of the Han Great Wall to detect illegal entry and exit. In a few cases, it is laid on the outer side of the Han Great Wall. If the patrol soldiers find footprints left by the enemy, they will report to the superiors immediately. Do a good job of early warning.

In the desert, the Great Wall transcends time and space, recording infinite romance. There is an old Chinese saying: 'There are thousand-year-old earthen walls, but no thousand-year-old brick walls'. The Han Dynasty Great Wall here spans two thousand years of history. It has gone through wind and rain, and still stands in the desert with infinite scenery. Nowadays, it is rare to see buildings that are more than two thousand years old. In the desert of Dunhuang, seeing the Han Dynasty Great Wall that is so well preserved, everyone can't help but sigh at the wisdom of the ancients.

——Danggu Beacon Tower Danggu Beacon Tower is a unique beacon tower in the Yumenguan ruins. Unlike other beacon towers built with rammed sandstone, this one is built with adobe bricks. The remaining height of the beacon tower varies from 0.85 meters to 9 meters. On the top of the beacon tower, there are low parapets on all four sides, forming a small house. On some tops, you can still see the remains of collapsed roofs and broken wooden pillars. There are several small houses under the beacon tower, usually with "Wu" (yard wall).

There are four main types of structures for beacon towers in the Han Dynasty. The first is rammed with yellow clay. The second is made of natural board soil, stones sandwiched with red willow and poplar branches, with a layer of reeds every 20-30 cm. The third is built entirely with stones, with a layer of reeds between each layer of stones. The fourth is built with earthenware, with a layer of reeds between every three to five layers of earthenware, and the reed layer is relatively thin. The earthenware is generally 40 cm long, 20 cm wide, and about 14 cm thick. It is made of loess, gravel and short reed tendons. Some beacon towers use almost no earth for their earthenware, and are made entirely of sand, gravel and reed tendons. The beacon tower is rectangular in plan and trapezoidal in cross section.

The management of the Great Wall in the Han Dynasty had a complete system, which was called the beacon agreement system in the academic community. The beacon towers had to be set off according to the provisions of the beacon agreement. The main way to sound the alarm was to burn firewood. The main material was reeds, and bundles of reeds were called "firewood". Reeds were everywhere in the Yumen Pass area. The bundles of reeds were called "firewood". The length of "firewood" varied, with the longest being 2.4 meters and the shortest being 60 centimeters. 8-centimeter-long "fire-starting firewood" was also found. Reeds piled into squares or circles were called "firewood piles", which literally means the accumulation of firewood. Some beacons had as many as 15 piles of firewood in front of them. There were many firewood piles left around the valley firewood. The largest firewood pile was 2 meters long, 1.5 meters high, and 1.3 meters high. They were arranged very neatly. Over time, they condensed together and became petrified. In China, Dunhuang is the place where the largest number of firewood piles were found and the most complete state of preservation was found. This is due to Dunhuang's unique natural conditions. During the 2,000-year-old Han Dynasty, these ancient information tools only took three days to transmit enemy information from Dunhuang to Chang'an. They can be called the ancient information highway.

Many precious historical relics are preserved in the ruins of the Han Dynasty Great Wall and beacon tunnels more than 2,000 years ago. For example, the Western Han Dynasty paper unearthed from the "Yumen Qianqiu Tunnel" was verified to be more than 100 years earlier than Cai Lun's papermaking in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The famous "Dunhuang Han Dynasty Bamboo Slips" were unearthed from the ruins of beacon tunnels along the Great Wall. These Han Dynasty bamboo slips found around the Great Wall and Dunhuang Xuanquan provide new and important data for the study of the politics, military, economy, and culture of the Hexi region and even the whole country in the Han Dynasty.

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