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Dushikou. Dushikou is seated 45 kilometers to the north of Chicheng County, Hebei Province. Since there is a lone boulder at the pass, it was called Dushikou (the lone boulder pass). The erratic boulder is 8.7 meters high. Its circumference is 78 meters, and the top diameter is 8.5 meters. There are two sets of inscriptions on the surface. One is ‘The Erratic Elegance’, and the other is ‘The Heaven Sent Stone’. Dushikou was a pass of crucial military importance. Especially when the Court redeployed the Kaiping Guard to Dushikou in the south in the Xuan De Period of the Ming Dynasty, its importance became more prominent and was called by ancient strategists ‘the gorge of the Great Wall, the sword arm of the Capital’. In 1422 when Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty attacked northward Alutai, he reviewed his troops in Dushikou to boost their morale.
The pass city of Dushikou was first built in 1430 with rammed loess. Later it was renovated with grey bricks laid outside. Its periphery is 6 li and 13 feet. The construction includes 4 city towers, 4 angle turrets and 3 city gates. The eastern gate was called ‘Changshengmen’ (the ever-victory gate), the western gate ‘Changningmen’ (the ever-tranquility gate), and the southern gate ‘Yong’anmen’ (the ever-peace gate). There is a watch tower in the southeast of the city where 5600 soldiers and a general stationed inside at the time. Later it has been rebuilt and renovated for many times, among which the renovation completed in 1582 was a relative massive one. During the Anti-Japanese War, the famous heroes and generals Fang Zhenwu and Ji Hongchang presided over an Anti-Japan and resolution pledge allay in Dushikou. Fang Zhenwu wrote down ‘to Expel the Japanese and to Stabilize the Frontier’ to spirit up the subordinates. The handwriting was carved out on a stone tablet.
