Great Wall-Yanmenguan Section

What Is The Yanmen Pass?

Yanmenguan (simplified Chinese: 雁门关; traditional Chinese: 雁門關), also known as Xixingguan (simplified Chinese: 西陉关; traditional Chinese: 西陘關) is the name of a Great Wall pass. Located in Dai County, Xinzhou of Shanxi province in China. The current Yanmenguan reconstruction was built during Ming dynasty and currently known as one of the announced monuments of China.
Name

Yanmenguan is situated on Yanmen Mountain. The east side and the west side of the mountain face each other, and hence the whole mountain looks like a huge door. Yanmen Mountain was named for its door-alike shape, in which Yanmen means wild goose door in Chinese.
History

The first pass was built by the King Wuling of Zhao during the Warring States period, for defense against the Inner Asian nomads. During Yuan Dynasty it eventually fell into disrepair. The pass was then reconstructed in 1374.