Juyong Pass

Juyong Pass

Juyong Pass is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction, a patriotic education base, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

About five kilometers south of the Badaling Great Wall, along the famous “Guan Valley,” lies one of the most renowned passes of the Ming Dynasty’s Great Wall — Juyong Pass. Since ancient times, it has served as a vital stronghold in the northwest of what is now Beijing.

If Badaling is considered the first gateway to Beijing from the northwest, then Juyong Pass is the second. Towering mountains rise on either side of the pass, with overlapping peaks and sheer cliffs that are nearly impassable. A single pathway cuts through the middle, making the terrain extremely treacherous. The "Lüshi Chunqiu," written during the Warring States period, already noted that “of the nine great passes in the world, Juyong is one.”

Throughout its long history, although Juyong Pass has always been a critical military stronghold, it has gone through many name changes. During the Three Kingdoms period, it was called “Xiguan”; in the Northern Qi Dynasty, it was renamed “Nakuan”; in the Tang Dynasty, it was first called “Jimen Pass” and later changed to “Jundu Pass.” From the Liao Dynasty onward, through the Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties up to the present, it has consistently been known as “Juyong Pass.” Although the Great Wall built by Qin Shi Huang during the Qin Dynasty did not pass through here, the area was already a strategic pass between the Qin counties of Jundu and Juyong. It wasn’t until 446 AD, during the Northern Wei Dynasty, that the Great Wall was first constructed here. In 555 AD, the Great Wall built by the Northern Qi regime also passed through this location. It was then that Juyong Pass truly became a significant fortress along the Great Wall. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, in the third year of the Hongwu era (1370 AD), founding hero Xu Da was ordered to construct the Juyong Pass fortress. The walls of the Great Wall extended from both sides of the fortress up the mountains, spreading out like the wings of a giant roc. The wall was built following the contours of the mountain terrain — where the ridges were relatively flat, the crenels were shaped like recessed “concave” characters, while on the steep slopes, the crenels were built in stair-like, zigzag formations. The fortress had gates to the north and south, with a street over two li in length. The southern gate was equipped with a barbican. The battlements and shooting holes were fully functional, and the crucial passageway ran straight through the north and south gates. It was said to be so secure that “one man could hold the pass against ten thousand.” Together with the Daima Pass and Zijing Pass of the Ming Great Wall, it was referred to as one of the “Three Inner Passes.”

The Juyong Pass Cloud Platform is located at the center of the Juyong Pass fortress. It is the base of a street-crossing pagoda, constructed from white marble. Built in the fifth year of the Yuán Zhìyuán era (1345 AD), the platform originally supported three stone pagodas, commonly known as the “street-crossing pagodas.” These pagodas were successively destroyed around the late Yuan and early Ming periods. In the fourth year of the Ming Zhengtong era (1439 AD), a temple was rebuilt on the platform, named the Tai’an Temple. This temple was later burned down in the forty-first year of the Qing Kangxi era (1702 AD). The existing platform base stands 9.5 meters high, measuring 26.84 meters from east to west at the bottom, and 17.57 meters from north to south. The top of the platform is surrounded by exquisitely carved stone railings and drainage spouts. There is a gated archway on both the north and south sides of the center of the platform. The arch is an eight-sided, angular vault — an architectural form unique to pre-Song and pre-Yuan Chinese city gateways and one of the few remaining examples in China. The surfaces of the arch and interior of the vault are carved with motifs such as the Garuda (golden-winged bird), dragon deities, and scrolling floral patterns. On the inner walls of the vault are Buddhist images related to esoteric teachings, including statues of the Four Heavenly Kings, and the “Six Ritual Implements” (六〓具) adorned with symbolic figures like the roc and whale. Among the Four Heavenly Kings, scriptures written in six different scripts — Sanskrit, Tibetan, ’Phags-pa, Uyghur, Chinese, and Xixia — are densely inscribed, along with the “Record of the Merit of Building the Pagoda” in Chinese. The ceiling of the vault features carvings of ten seated Buddhas and numerous smaller Buddha figures, as well as various floral designs.

Location

Yanqing District, Beijing