located west of Dunhuang
in today's Gansu
Province of China
. In ancient times, this was a pass through which the Silk Road
passed, and was the one road connecting Central Asia
and China, the former called the Western Regions
. Just to the south was the Yangguan
pass, which was also an important point on the Silk Road.
Although Chinese guan is usually translated simply as "pass", its more specific meaning is a "frontier pass" to distinguish it from an ordinary pass through the mountains. Yumen guan and Yang guan 玉門陽關 are derived from: yu 玉 = 'jade' + men = 'gate', 'door'; and Yang 陽 = 'sunny side', 'south side of a hill', 'north side of a river,' and guan 關 = ‘frontier-passes’. These were the two most famous passes leading to the north and west from Chinese territory. During the Early Han, ". . . a defensive line was established from Jiuquan ('Wine Springs') in the Gansu Corridor west to the Jade Gate Pass at its end."
Not to be confused with the city Yumen (玉门, literally Jade Gate) in Gansu, China. Although both are within the same Jiuquan
"prefecture-level city
" (a multi-county administrative unit) of Gansu province, Yumen Pass is located some 400 km to the west of its namesake city.
History
"Travellers to 'The Western Regions' (西域, Xihu) left China through the famous Yumenguan 玉門關, or 'Jade Gate Frontier-post,' named for the many jade caravans that passed through it. The original Jade Gate was erected by Emperor Wudi (Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of HanEmperor Wu of Han , , personal name Liu Che , was the seventh emperor of the Han Dynasty of China, ruling from 141 BC to 87 BC. Emperor Wu is best remembered for the vast territorial expansion that occurred under his reign, as well as the strong and centralized Confucian state he organized...
) soon after 121 BCE and its ruins may still be seen about 80 kilometres (49.7 mi) to the northwest of DunhuangDunhuangDunhuang is a city in northwestern Gansu province, Western China. It was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road. It was also known at times as Shāzhōu , or 'City of Sands', a name still used today...
which was, until the 6th century, the final outpost of Chinese territory for caravans on their long caravan journeys to India, ParthiaParthiaParthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
, and the Roman Empire."
"The remains of these two important Han-dynasty gates are about 68 kilometres (42.3 mi) apart, at either end of the Dunhuang extension of the Great Wall. Until the Tang dynasty, when the gates fell into disuse, all caravans travelling through Dunhuang were required to pass through one of these gates, then the westernmost passes of China. Yumenguan lies about 80 kilometres (49.7 mi) northwest of Dunhuang. It was originally called the ‘Square City,’ but because the great jade caravans from Khotan entered through its portals, it became known as the Jade Gate Pass. In the third and fourth centuries turmoil swept through Central Asia, disrupting overland trade, and the sea route via India began to supplant it. By the sixth century, as caravans favoured the northern route via Hami, the pass was abandoned. In 1907, Sir Aurel Stein found bamboo slips naming the site as Yumenguan, and in 1944 Chinese archaeologists discovered relics that confirmed this. With its 10-metre-high (32 foot) mud walls pierced by four gateways, the square enclosure covered more than 600 square metres (718 square yards) in the midst of unbounded desolation. Yanguan lies 75 kilometres (46.6 mi) southwest of Dunhuang but consists of only the ruins of a high beacon tower. . . ." Bonavia (2004), pp. 176, 178. Quoted in Hill (2009), p. 138.