Yumen Pass

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Yumen Pass, or Jade Gate or Pass of the Jade Gate, is the name of a pass 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 are derived from: yu = 'jade' + men = 'gate', 'door'; and Yang = 'sunny side', 'south side of a hill', 'north side of a river,' and guan = '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."