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22-563: Yangguan was one of China's two most important western passes, the other being Yumenguan . In Chinese, yang means "sun" or "sunny", but it can also be used to mean "south" (the sunny side of a hill being the southern side). Yangguan was therefore so-named because it lies to the south of the Yumenguan Pass. It was an important landmark on the Silk Road . The fortress at Yangguan however had fallen into ruin by around AD 900. Yangguan

44-671: A legendary story of the young Han general Huo Qubing , who was said to have poured a vat of precious wine into a local creek to share its taste with his troops after a victory over the Xiongnu nomads. Fulu was founded in 111 BC as an outpost in the Hexi Corridor near the Jade Gate along the overland Silk Road . Jiuquan was a Han prefecture and, under the Eastern Han , an active military garrison. Su Prefecture

66-751: A railway branch runs from the Liugou Station in Guazhou County to Dunhuang , serving both Guazhou county seat and Dunhuang. There are plans to expand it further south into Qinghai ; the extension, known as the Golmud–Dunhuang Railway , will connect Dunhuang to Golmud , Qinghai on the Qinghai–Tibet railway . There is also the Jiayuguan–Ceke branch , which runs through the desert areas of Jiuquan Prefecture's Jinta County . Jiuquan

88-413: Is also played on guanzi as well as other instruments, and has also been adapted for a vocal performance. This Chinese location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Jade Gate Yumen Pass ( simplified Chinese : 玉门 关 ; traditional Chinese : 玉門 關 ; pinyin : Yùmén Guān ; Uyghur : قاش قوۋۇق , Qash Qowuq ), or Jade Gate or Pass of

110-623: Is also served by Jiuquan Airport . There is also Dunhuang Airport in Dunhuang. Jiuquan is the closest major city to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center . Still, the space launch center is more than 100 km (62 mi) away from the city, and is actually located not in Gansu province, but in the neighboring Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region . It was built in 1958; the first Chinese human spaceflight , Shenzhou 5

132-598: Is associated with sad parting in Chinese literature as it was the last stop for Chinese travellers leaving China to the Western Regions . In a famous poem, "Seeing Yuan'er off on a Mission to Anxi ", the Tang dynasty poet Wang Wei wrote: The morning rain of Weicheng dampens the light dust, The guest house is green with the colour of fresh willows. Let's finish another cup of wine, my dear sir, Out west past

154-632: Is located some 400 km to the west of its namesake city. Yumen Pass was one of the most famous passes leading to the north and west from Chinese territory. During the Early Han, "a defensive line was established from Jiuquan ('Wine Springs') in the Gansu Corridor west to the Jade Gate Pass at its end." Travellers to 'The Western Regions' (西域, Xiyu) left China through the famous Yumenguan 玉門關, or 'Jade Gate Frontier-post,' named for

176-541: Is more than 600 km (370 mi) wide from east to west, occupying 191,342 km (73,878 sq mi), although its built-up area is mostly located in its Suzhou District . The city was formerly known as Fulu , which became known as Suzhou ( Suchow , Su-chow , &c.) after it became the seat of Su Prefecture under the Sui . As the seat of Jiuquan Commandery , it eventually became known by that name in turn. The name Jiuquan —" wine spring(s)" — derives from

198-868: Is relatively large, averaging 13.8 °C (24.8 °F) annually. With sunny weather and low humidity dominating year-round, the area hosts one of the launch sites for the PRC's space programme. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 62% in July to 77% in October, the city receives 3,031 hours of bright sunshine annually. Jiuquan is served by China National Highway 312 and the Lanzhou-Xinjiang (Lanxin) Railway . The Lanxin Railway has several side branches within Jiuquan Prefecture. In particular,

220-533: Is repeated either in part or in whole three times, and each time with some variations. The earliest surviving music score dates back to the Ming dynasty. A current popular version is based on a late Qing dynasty tune; originally it was played on guqin and first published in Introduction to Learning Qin (琴學入門, Qinxue Rumen ) in 1864, but it may be traced back to a version from the Ming dynasty. This version

242-633: The Dungan Revolt . It was completely destroyed by the time it was recovered by the Qing general Zuo Zongtang in 1873 but it was swiftly rebuilt. Jiuquan is made up of one district, two counties, two autonomous counties and two country-level cities . Jiuquan occupies the westernmost part of Gansu, bordering Zhangye City to the east, Qinghai to the south, Xinjiang to the west, Ejin Banner , Alxa league of Inner Mongolia and Mongolia to

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264-505: The Dunhuang extension of the Great Wall. Until the Tang dynasty , when the gates fell into disuse, all caravans travelling through Dunhuang were required to pass through one of these gates, then the westernmost passes of China. Yumenguan lies about 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Dunhuang. It was originally called the 'Square City', but because the great jade caravans from Khotan entered through its portals, it became known as

286-636: The Jade Gate , is the name of a pass of the Great Wall located west of Dunhuang in today's Gansu Province of China . During the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220), this was a pass through which the Silk Road passed, and was the one road connecting Central Asia with East Asia (China), the former called the Western Regions . Just to the south was the Yangguan pass, which was also an important point on

308-483: The Jade Gate Pass. In the third and fourth centuries turmoil swept through Central Asia, disrupting overland trade, and the sea route via India began to supplant it. By the sixth century, as caravans favoured the northern route via Hami , the pass was abandoned. In 1907, Sir Aurel Stein found bamboo slips naming the site as Yumenguan, and in 1944 Chinese archaeologists discovered relics that confirmed this. With its 10-metre-high (32 foot) mud walls pierced by four gateways,

330-692: The Silk Road. These passes, along with other sites along the Silk Road, were inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor World Heritage Site. The pass is at an elevation of 1400 meters. Although the Chinese guan is usually translated simply as "pass", its more specific meaning is a "frontier pass" to distinguish it from an ordinary pass through

352-528: The Yangguan, old friends there'll be none. Wang Wei's poem inspired one of China's best-known musical pieces, the "Three Variations of Yangguan" ( Yangguan Sandie , traditional Chinese : 陽關三疊 ; simplified Chinese : 阳关三叠 ) which existed as early as the Tang dynasty. The song became a classic farewell song sung down the centuries, and additional lines were added by others to the song as refrains. The poem

374-574: The many jade caravans that passed through it. The original Jade Gate was erected by Emperor Wudi ( Emperor Wu of Han ) soon after 121 BCE and its ruins may still be seen about 80 kilometres (50 mi) to the northwest of Dunhuang which was, until the 6th century, the final outpost of Chinese territory for caravans on their long caravan journeys to India, Parthia , and the Roman Empire . The remains of these two important Han-dynasty gates are about 68 kilometres (42 mi) apart, at either end of

396-455: The mountains. Yumen guan 玉門關 and Yang guan 陽關 are derived from: yu 玉 = 'jade' + men 門 = 'gate', 'door'; and yang 陽 = 'sunny side', 'south side of a hill', 'north side of a river,' and guan 關 = ‘frontier-passes’. It is not to be confused with the city Yumen (玉門, literally Jade Gate ) in Gansu, China. Although both are within the same Jiuquan " prefecture-level city " (a multi-county administrative unit) of Gansu province, Yumen Pass

418-704: The north. Its administrative area ranges in latitude from 37° 58' to 42° 48' N and in longitude from 92° 09' to 100° 20' E, and reaches a maximal north–south extent of 550 km (340 mi) and maximal east-west width of 680 km (420 mi). Suzhou District is approximately 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) above sea level. Jiuquan has a cold desert climate ( Köppen BWk ), with long, cold winters, and hot, somewhat dry summers. Monthly average temperatures range from −8.9 °C (16.0 °F) in January to 22.3 °C (72.1 °F) in July, with an annual mean of 7.79 °C (46.0 °F). The diurnal temperature variation

440-571: The province of Gansu. Along with its role protecting trade along the Silk Road , Suzhou was the great center of the rhubarb trade. Under the Ming , Suzhou was the site where the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Bento de Góis was robbed and died in 1607 during the exploration that finally established that Cathay and China were a single country. Meng Qiaofang took it from Ding Guodong in 1649. The Hui under Ma Wenlu held it during

462-460: The square enclosure covered more than 600 square metres (718 square yards) in the midst of unbounded desolation. Yanguan lies 75 kilometres (47 mi) southwest of Dunhuang but consists of only the ruins of a high beacon tower. Jiuquan Jiuquan , formerly known as Suzhou is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China . It

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484-605: Was established under the Sui and renamed Jiuquan Commandery under the Tang . In 624, Jiuquan County was established. In 763, it was occupied by Tibetan Empire . After the fall of the Tibetan Empire, it was controlled by the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom . In 1028, it was seized by Xixia . During the Yuan Dynasty , Suzhou Lu was established under Gansu Province. It sometimes served as the capital of

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