ing to the foundation of the qing dynasty. (1644-1911) jiayuguan pass was not so much as the "strategic pass under the heaven" as an important communication center in chinese history. cleft between the snow-capped qilian mountains and the rolling mazong mountains, it was on the ancient silk road. zhang qian, the first envoy of emperor wu di of the western han dynasty (206 b.c-24 a.d), crossed it on his journey to the western regions. later, silk flowed to the west through this pass too. the gate-tower of jiayuguan is an attractive building of excellent workmanship. it has an inner city and an outer city, the former square in shape and surrounded by a wall 11.7 meters high and 730 meters in circumference. it has two gates, an eastern one and a western one. on each gate sits a tower facing each other. the four corners of the wall are occupied by four watch towers, one for each. juyongguan, a gateway to ancient beijing from inner mongolia, was built in a 15-kilometer long ravine flanked by mountains. the cavalrymen of genghis khan swept through it in the 13th century. at the center of the pass is a white marble platform named the cloud terrace, which was called the crossing-street dagoba, since its narrow arch spanned the main street of the pass and on the top of the terrace there used to be three stone dagobas, built in the yuan daynasty(1206-1368). at the bottom of the terrace is a half-octagonal arch gateway, interesting for its wealth of detail: it is decorated with splendid
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