Juyong Pass is situated about 50 km away from downtown Beijing in Changping District. Speaking of how it was named, we have to go back to the Qin Dynasty (221 B. C. -- 207 B. C.). It is said that when the Emperor Qinshihuang began to build the Great Wall, he ordered to migrate the prisoners, soldiers and civilians to this area, which means only the uncivilized and lower classes should be allocated here to lodge.
The terrain of Juyong Pass is dangerous and has been a disputed area for different military parties since the ancient times of China. There are two passes in the south and north respectively, with the one in the south being named “Nankou (or South Entrance)” and the north being called “Juyongguan (or Juyong Pass or a pass where the uncivilized and lower classes are confined)”. However, the pass we see today is not the one built in that dynasty but in the early Ming dynasty, when the first emperor of the dynasty appointed one of his outstanding generals to build.
Juyongguan is the gateway of Beijing's northwest. The mountain ranges standing on both sides look magnificent and awe-inspiring, with one stream valley running between them, nicknamed “Guangou (or Pass Gutter)” . This place is surrounded by green streams, modified by the undulating mountains, beautified by the dense woods and flourishing flowers and dynamized by the chirping birds hidden in the trees. In the ancient times of China, it was listed as one of the Top Eight Views of Beijing.
In fact, as early as the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States period in China, Yan Kingdom was intended to control this pass, which as then called “Juyong Fortress”. Up until the Han dynasty, a real Juyongguan had gradually appeared after a long time of reconstruction and renovation. In the Southern and Northern dynasties of China, pass cities were connected with the Great Wall once again. The dynasties including the Tang, Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties that followed also set up pass cities in Juyongguan Valley.
The pass cities left for today was initially constructed in 1368 during the Ming dynasty and renovated a few times after that year. This shape of the pass is a circle which runs as long as 4,000 meters or so and on which different official buildings can still be seen today. But after the end of the Qing dynasty, the pass was discarded for quite a few years until the 1990s, when the soldiers of the People’s Republic of China rebuilt the pass and now it looks relatively new and impressive for each and every visitor touring the ancient city wall.
