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Yang Pass

Yang Pass (Yangguan), also known as the Southern Pass, sits 75 kilometers southwest of Dunhuang, and was originally built by Emperor Wu in Hang Dynasty as one of the two most important passes protecting Dunhuang from invasion from the west (the other pass is Yumen Pass (Yumen Guan)).

In modern times, Yangguan is quite ruined with great sections buried in the shifting sands. However, at its heyday, this system of beacon towers and walls marked the western border of the Chinese Empire. Again, today, there are hardly any walls in sight, the only visible sections being the foundations of some of the walls. To the south of the mound is an expanse where one may find millions pieces of broken tile over an area of twenty square kilometers, some of the last evidence of civilization here.