The First Pass Under Heaven - Shanhaiguan

The Great Wall - Shanhaiguan, also known as Yuguan, Yuguguan, and Linlüguan, is located 10 km east of Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. It is backed by the Yanshan Mountains in the north, faces the Bohai Sea in the south, connects to Liaoning in the east, and is close to Beijing and Tianjin in the west. It is a strategic passage connecting Northeast China and North China, and one of the northeastern passes of the Ming Great Wall. Before 1990, it was considered the eastern starting point of the Ming Great Wall. It is known as one of the "Three Wonders of the Great Wall" (Shanhaiguan in the east, Zhenbeitai in the middle, and Jiayuguan in the west), "The First Pass Under Heaven," and "The Throat of the Border County, the Protection of the Capital." It echoes with Jiayuguan thousands of miles away and is famous worldwide. As early as the Sui Dynasty (583), a pass city was built here. In the 14th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty (1381), Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the construction of a city and pass here. It was built by Xu Da, the King of Zhongshan, and was named Shanhaiguan because it is backed by mountains and faces the sea. Since then, Shanhaiguan has undergone multiple repairs and expansions, becoming a military stronghold guarding the throat of Northeast and North China. Shanhaiguan is known as "The First Pass Under Heaven," and the plaque was written by the famous Ming Dynasty calligrapher Xiao Xian. Shanhaiguan is connected to the Great Wall, with the city as the pass. It has four main city gates and various defensive buildings, including the "First Pass Under Heaven" arrow tower, Jingbian Tower, Muying Tower, Linlü Tower, Wengcheng, and 1,350 meters of the Ming Dynasty plain Great Wall. Shanhaiguan has always been a strategic location in history, with significant strategic importance. As one of the eastern starting points of the Ming Great Wall (although it was later discovered that the actual eastern starting point of the Ming Great Wall is the Hushan Great Wall in Kuandian County, Dandong City, Liaoning Province), Shanhaiguan had a dangerous terrain in the cold weapon era, with the saying "one man guards the pass, ten thousand cannot open it." It could withstand attacks from a considerable scale of troops and remain unscathed. On March 4, 1961, the Great Wall - Shanhaiguan was listed as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. In December 1987, the Great Wall, including the Great Wall - Shanhaiguan, was listed as a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. The First Pass Under Heaven - Shanhaiguan