Yangguan is a place where ancient Chinese land roads were used for external traffic, and the only pass along the South Silk Road, located near the antique beach in the southwest of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province.
After the Song Dynasty, due to the gradual decline of transportation with the West and land, the pass was abolished. The antique beach was named after the ground was exposed to a large number of cultural relics of the Han Dynasty, such as copper arrows, ancient coins, stone mills, and pottery cups. The "Xiguan Ruins Examination" states that the antique beach is the Yangguan after the Han Dynasty, but according to the "Gansu Xintongzhi" and "Dunhuang County Records", the Red Mountain Pass is considered to be Yangguan.
Main attractions
Yangguan, an ancient city buried in quicksand, an ancient city chanted by writers and writers of all ages. Some of the remaining houses, farmland, canals, and other ruins here are visible and eye-catching when the gale passes. Since ancient times, Yangguan has always been desolate in people's hearts. Today's Yangguan is no longer synonymous with the desolate and euphemism. Today's Yangguan is already a good place for willow greens, lush forests, abundant grains, clear springs, and clusters of grapes.
Beacon Tower in Han Dynasty
There are few beacon towers in Guancheng due to the long history. In ancient times, there are 70 kilometers of the great wall connecting Yangguan to Yumen Pass in the north. Every ten miles there are beacon towers, and there are dozens of beacon towers near Yangguan. In particular, on the top of the dundun mountain on the north side of the antique beach, the beacon tower named "Yangguan ears" is the largest with the highest terrain and relatively complete preservation.
The old city of Yangguan has long been gone. Only one Han Dynasty beacon tower stands on Dundun Mountain, relying on this Dundun Mountain, you can enjoy a panoramic view of hundreds of miles. Dundun beacon tower is at the commanding height of Yangguan. It is the only physical testimony of the history of Yangguan. On the south side of the mountain, there is a large sand beach that is beyond sight and is called "antique beach" by the locals. There is a wide range of quicksand here, and the undulating sand dunes are naturally arranged into more than twenty large sand beams from east to west. Between the sand beams, it is flat gravel. Ancient relics such as pottery slabs, iron bricks, tiles, weapons, decorations, and pottery wares are everywhere. Therefore, the locals have said that "when entering the antique beach, they will not return it empty-handed."
Inscription promenade
On the towering Dundun Mountain of Beacon Tower, a celebrity inscription promenade has been built. Walking in the promenade, you can not only enjoy the poetry and calligraphy of contemporary celebrities, but also rely on the ancient Yangguan site, and overlook the natural scenery of oases, deserts and snow peaks.
South Lake and Grape Promenade
There is a South Lake and a grape promenade near Yangguan, with unique style, you can visit local folk customs.
Silk Road
To the Silk Road you must go to Dunhuang, to Dunhuang you must go to Yangguan. Speaking of Yangguan, we have to mention its relationship with the Silk Road. When the Silk Road was opened, the caravans started from Chang'an, went to Dunhuang for supplies, and then started from two passes. Yangguan was one of them. After passing through the Yangguan, the caravan passed through the desert, reaching Shanshan (now Xinjiang Ruoqiang), then Yutian, and then passing through the Congling (now Pamir Plateau and Karakorum Mountains) to rest (now the Iranian Plateau and the Two Rivers basins), meet with the caravan starting from Yumen Pass, and then to Celestia, the farthest reaches to southern Turkey and Egypt.