Qiuzhou Pass

Qiuzhou Pass

Qiuzhou Pass is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Anhui.

Qiuzhou Pass is located 60 kilometers southeast of Ningguo City, Xuancheng, Anhui Province.

To the south lies Henglu Township, Lin’an City, Zhejiang Province, at the northern end of Provincial Highway 16, also known as the Tongqian Line. Qiuzhou Pass is now a provincial-level cultural heritage site of Anhui. Surrounded by towering mountains and deep tunnels in a strategically vital location, it serves as a key passage between Anhui and Zhejiang and the gateway to Hangzhou, making it a historically contested military stronghold.

Originally known as Qiuzhou Ridge, Qiuzhou Pass stands 398 meters high and was the strategic throat connecting Ningguo in southern Anhui to Yuhang in Zhejiang. It once featured structures such as a command cave, a general’s platform, and artillery emplacements, with nine cannons stationed atop the pass. In the second year of the Tongzhi reign during the Qing Dynasty (1863), the Taiping Army garrisoned the pass and installed several additional cannons, which have since been lost. To the east of the pass, the horse-running trough leading to Haopian Pass on the hillside can still be faintly discerned. The existing gate of Qiuzhou Pass was rebuilt in the third year of the Xianfeng reign (1853) during the Qing Dynasty, with an outer gate added. The inner and outer gates are about 30 meters apart; the outer gate was destroyed during road construction, but the inner gate remains. The gate foundation is built with large square stones. The remaining structure is 3.82 meters high, 25.25 meters long, and 7.17 meters thick. The archway is 2.24 meters high and 2.05 meters wide. A stone plaque is embedded in the gate, inscribed horizontally with the three large characters “Qiuzhou Guan” (Qiuzhou Pass).

According to the Zhejiang General Annals · Passes and Bridges: “Qiuzhou Pass is located at the western foot of the Tianmu Mountains.” Its strategic position has made it a battleground throughout history. During the Five Dynasties period, there was a major battle here between the Later Liang and Wuyue Kingdoms. The Southern Song Dynasty established the pass and garrisoned it with heavy troops, from which time it became known as “Qiuzhou Pass.” Original structures such as a command cave, a general’s platform, and artillery emplacements no longer exist. The surrounding area is inhabited by She ethnic people who carve terraced fields out of the rocky landscape—some large enough to lie down in, others small enough to sit in—spiraling upward in layers. The ridge rises hundreds of feet, often shrouded in mist. The Tang Dynasty poet Luo Yin once wrote the famous line, “Looking back at the clouds over Qiuzhou Ridge.”

Protected area: the structure itself and within 10 meters surrounding it.

Construction control zone: 40 meters beyond the protected area.