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Yangguan. Yangguan was an important pass of the Han Great Wall. It is located on ‘the Antique Beach’ of Nanhu county over 70 kilometers to the southwest of Dunhuang. It was also a must pass of the south and north roads of the Silk Road, and held a crucial position in the political, economic, cultural respects of the time. According to the historical records, Yangguan was to the south of Yumenguan. In the Chinese culture, the south is Yang and the north is Yin, hence the name. Speaking of Yangguan, the Chinese will immediately recall the famous lines written by Wang Wei, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, ‘Wait till we empty one more cup; leaving Yangguan and going westward there will be no old friends.’
Yangguan has a very long history, and was mentioned in historical records of the Han, Wei, Jin and Tang dynasties. In the Jin and the Northern Wei dynasties Yangguan County was set up. In the Tang Dynasty when Shouchang County was set up in former Longle, Yangguan was still in use, but the name suddenly disappear in all the historical records after the Tang Dynasty, because constant warfare and massive land reclamation greatly destroyed the plant cover and water source there, and people could no longer live in the deteriorated environment and sandy winds. Around the Song Dynasty Yangguan was totally abandoned and swallowed up by drift sand.
Today in the Yangguan site there is only a beacon tower of the Han Dynasty that is standing high on the Dundun Mountain. The sand and gravel land to the south of the mountain is called ‘the Antique Beach’ by local people. Elders told us that there scattered a lot of ancient coins, weapons, decorations, broken potteries, etc. over the beach of more than 10 thousand square meters in their childhood and they could easily pick a lot. Besides, there are other ruins such as aged houses, farmlands and ditches. During the cultural relic survey in 1972, a site of an ancient city of over 10 thousand square meters was found in the peopleless desert to the west of the Antique Beach. After excavation, houses neatly arranged in lines and rammed earth rampart foundations with different width and thickness came into sight. Other findings were Five zhu coins of the Han Dynasty, copper arrowheads, broken grey pottery of the Han Dynasty, farmlands, brick furnaces, water ditches, etc. According to the tentative judgment of antiquarians, the site is the ancient Yangguan.
