Gates of Juyongguan Pass

Most travelers perceive Juyongguan as a "section of the Great Wall." This is not entirely accurate. Juyongguan is first and foremost a fortress, a closed defensive complex within which life was in full swing. Unlike Badaling or Mutianyu, where the wall stretches linearly along the ridges, Juyongguan is a ring-shaped structure.

Here the walls of two mountains — the eastern and the western — close together, forming an enclosed space, inside which was a real military town with administrative buildings, temples, warehouses, and an academy. And almost all of these buildings have survived to this day.

The fortress gates that have survived to this day are not a decoration, but functional elements of this defensive system. There are two of them: the southern gate and the northern gate, each crowned with a tall watchtower. It was through them that all who headed from the capital to the north — or vice versa — passed. And it is here, at these gates, that the climb to the wall begins or ends.

What Was Here Before: An Outpost on the Pass

The history of Juyongguan begins long before the present stone gates appeared here. As far back as the era of the Warring States (5th–3rd centuries BCE), there existed in these places a fortification called the "Juyong Outpost." The pass is mentioned in the text "Lüshi Chunqiu" — a monument of the 3rd century BCE — as one of the "nine fortifications on the mountains."

The toponym "Juyong" itself has a legendary explanation. According to tradition, when Qin Shi Huang was building the Great Wall, "yong tu" — convicts, soldiers, and mobilized peasants — were driven here, into this gorge. The expression "to resettle and place laborers" — this is how the origin of the pass`s name is explained.

Through Juyongguan ran the ancient route from the northern steppes to the lands of the state of Yan and further to the future Beijing. Trade caravans passed here, troops marched, and imperial processions traveled. In the Yuan era, the pass was the main road between Dadu (Beijing) and Mongolia — emperors regularly traveled here on their way to the summer camps.

What Is Here Now: The Gates, the Cloud Platform, and the Lake

Today the Fortress Gates of Juyongguan are the starting point for the climb to the wall and at the same time a historical monument. Next to them is the Cloud Platform (Yuntai) — the base of a lost pagoda of the Yuan era. It is here, in the arch of the Cloud Platform, that sutras are carved in six languages, and on the stone floor wheel ruts from ancient carts have been preserved. These ruts are direct evidence that a constant flow of transport and people indeed passed through these gates.

Not far from the gates is a small lake — a body of water that in ancient times was probably used as part of the defensive system or as a source of water for the garrison. Today it is a quiet place where one can rest after the climb.

Inside the fortress, other buildings have been preserved and restored: the Temple of Guan Yu, the Zhongci Temple, the academy "Gathering of Emerald Green," granaries, and administrative buildings. Some of them are now occupied by the Great Wall Museum.

The Gates as Part of a Whole

The gates of the Juyongguan Pass are the entry point not simply to the wall, but to a space that for more than two thousand years was a true crossroads: military, commercial, and cultural. Through these gates passed emperors, soldiers, merchants, and pilgrims.

The wheel ruts in the stone of the Cloud Platform, traces of repairs on the walls, temples inside the fortress — all of this speaks to the fact that Juyongguan was not only a fortification on the line of defense, but also a place where everyday life went on. Garrison families lived here, artisans and merchants worked, people prayed in the temples, envoys were received, and imperial processions were escorted.