Yangguan
The ruin of a tower on a hill at Yangguan
Location	China
Coordinates	39°55′38″N 94°03′33″E / 39.92725°N 94.059028°E / 39.92725; 94.059028Coordinates: 39°55′38″N 94°03′33″E / 39.92725°N 94.059028°E / 39.92725; 94.059028

Yangguan, or Yangguan Pass (traditional Chinese: 陽關; simplified Chinese: 阳关; literally "Sun Gate"), is a mountain pass that was fortified by Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty and used as an outpost in ancient China. It is located approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) southwest of Dunhuang, in the Gansu province of Northwest China, which was in ancient times the westernmost administrative center of China. It was established as a frontier defense post, as well as a developed place in China's remote western frontier; Emperor Wu encouraged Chinese to settle there. Today Yangguan is located in Nanhu Village, along the Hexi Corridor.

Yangguan is one of China's two most important western passes, the other being Yumenguan. In Chinese, yang means "sunny" and is also used to mean "south" (the sunny side being the southern side of a hill). Because Yangguan lies to the south of the Yumenguan Pass, it derived its name.^{[citation needed]} Together with Yumenguan Pass, it was an important site on the Silk Road.

Cultural references [edit]

Yangguan is associated with sad parting in Chinese literature as it was the last stop for Chinese travellers to the Western Regions before leaving the land of the Han Chinese. In a famous poem, "Seeing Yuaner off on a Mission to Anxi", the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei wrote:

送元二使安西 渭城朝雨浥輕塵， 客舍青青柳色新； 勸君更盡一杯酒， 西出陽關無故人。	Seeing Yuaner off on a Mission to Anxi The morning rain of Weicheng dampens the light dust, The guest house is green with the colour of fresh willows. Do drink another cup of wine, my dear sir, Past the Yangguan out to the west, old friends there are 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 "three variations" indicates that the poem is to be repeated, either in part on in whole, three times, each time with some variation. A current popular version is based on a late Qing dynasty version tune; originally played on guqin, this version has been played on the guanzi, on other instruments, and adapted for vocal performance.^[1][2]

See also [edit]

• Yang Gongren

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Yangguan
• Yangguan Sandie

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