Cone Mountain Wumingkou

Cone Mountain Wumingkou

“Wumingkou,” also known as “Wu Mingkou,” is located adjacent to Cone Mountain and marks the boundary between the Jizhou Town Great Wall and the Liaodong Town Great Wall. The section of the wall to the west belongs to Jizhou Town, while the section to the east belongs to Liaodong Town—the latter begins here. This stretch of the wall is fully faced with blue bricks on both sides of the pass. The gate is a small arched opening situated high on the northern side of the mountain pass, with a Wumingkou Watchtower to the right of the gate; its eastern side has collapsed. Further south, at the lowest point of the mountain, there is a massive watchtower and a seven-arch brick tower built to guard the pass. At the highest peak to the south of the pass stands a square brick battlement tower with two gates facing north and south; the arch stones above the gates are adorned with carvings, and the roof features a prominent iron telecommunications tower, known as the “Bramble Tower.” The gate of Wumingkou and the brick-faced sections of the nearby Great Wall have been dismantled, leaving only the inner stone structure and lime plaster, now collapsed into heaps. The battlement tower to the south of the Wumingkou valley has also lost its roof, though a section of the tiger-skin-patterned stone wall of the Wumingkou Pass City remains to the west of the tower. The rest of the area has been converted into terraced fields. The inner and outer walls of the climbing rampart to the north of Wumingkou are largely intact, and on the inner side of the wall leading to the mountaintop, there is also a small arched gate for soldiers to enter and exit. From the Bramble Tower atop the mountain, one can take in the spectacular view of the “Three Dragons Gathering at the City”—the convergence of the eastern, southern, and western sections of the Great Wall. Enemy towers densely dot the mountains as they converge at the summit of Cone Mountain, presenting a breathtaking and majestic sight.