Is Jiayuguan really the end of the Great Wall?

It is the western end of the Ming Great Wall. Earlier walls, built by the Han, continued much further west: their remains, together with beacon towers, can still be seen near the Yumen Pass north-west of Dunhuang.

How far is Jiayuguan from Dunhuang?

About 380 km by road to the west-south-west. The two are linked by train and by road along the Hexi Corridor, and are often combined in one journey.

Historic city · Industrial centre · Gansu

Jiayuguan

嘉峪关 (Jiāyùguān)

The western end of the Ming Great Wall

Jiayuguan is a prefecture-level city in the western Hexi Corridor, named after the Ming fortress built in 1372 at the corridor's narrowest point, where the Great Wall ended in the west. The modern city grew from the 1950s around the Jiuquan Iron and Steel works and is one of the few prefecture-level cities in China without any counties.

ProvinceGansu

Key facts

Province: Gansu
Administrative level: Prefecture-level city (no counties)
Area: about 2,935 km²[1]
Resident population: 0.31 million(as of 2020 census)[2]
Fort founded: 1372
UNESCO World Heritage: The Great Wall (1987)[3]

Overview

Here the Qilian Mountains to the south and the Black Mountains to the north pinch the Hexi Corridor to about 15 km, and the Ming closed the gap with a wall and a fortress. Beyond Jiayuguan lay, in the Ming view, the lands “outside the pass” (关外), and exiles and travellers leaving China proper passed through its gates.

The modern city is planned, green and industrial, with the fortress on the western edge and the Qilian snow peaks on the horizon.

Names and nicknames

天下第一雄关 (tiānxià dì-yī xióngguān)
“the mightiest pass under heaven”
Inscription on the fort, paired with Shanhaiguan's title “the first pass under heaven” at the eastern end of the wall.
戈壁钢城 (Gēbì gāngchéng)
“steel city of the Gobi”
For the steel works around which the modern city was built.

History

The general Feng Sheng chose the site in 1372 and built an earthen fort; the towers and outer walls were added over the following two centuries, and the “Overhanging Great Wall” up the Black Mountains in 1540. Earlier, in the Wei and Jin periods, the gentry of the corridor were buried in brick tombs painted with scenes of daily life east of the city. The steel works, founded in 1958, brought the city into being; Jiayuguan became a city in 1965 and a prefecture-level city in 1971.

3rd–4th century
Wei–Jin painted brick tombs
Tombs at Xincheng decorated with single bricks painted with farming, herding, cooking and hunting scenes.
1372
Jiayuguan fort founded
Ming general Feng Sheng fortified the pass after driving back the Mongols.
1540
Overhanging Great Wall
A section of wall was carried up the steep ridge of the Black Mountains north of the pass.
1958
Jiuquan Iron and Steel
The steel works were founded near the pass, using ore from the Qilian Mountains.
1987
UNESCO World Heritage
The Great Wall was inscribed, with Jiayuguan as one of its best-known parts.

Landmarks

Historic site
Jiayuguan Pass
嘉峪关关城 (Jiāyùguān Guānchéng)
Fortress of rammed earth and brick with an inner city, gate towers and a barbican, the best-preserved pass on the Ming wall.
Historic site
Overhanging Great Wall
悬壁长城 (Xuánbì Chángchéng)
Restored wall climbing a steep ridge north of the pass.
Historic site
First Beacon Tower
长城第一墩 (Chángchéng dì-yī dūn)
The last watchtower of the wall, on the cliff edge above the Taolai River gorge south of the pass.
Museum
Great Wall Museum
长城博物馆 (Chángchéng Bówùguǎn)
Museum of the Great Wall's history from the Warring States to the Ming.

Neighbourhoods

City centre
雄关区 (Xióngguān Qū)
The planned centre with parks and wide avenues.
Jiuquan
酒泉 (Jiǔquán)
The neighbouring older city, about 20 km east, with a Ming drum tower and the spring park that gave it its name.

Food

Lamb with rolled dough
羊肉垫卷子 (yángròu diànjuǎnzi)
Stewed lamb cooked over rolled sheets of dough that soak up the sauce.
Huguo
糊锅 (húguō)
A thick, peppery breakfast soup with chicken and noodles, eaten with twisted flatbread, from Jiuquan.

Culture

Jiayuguan's culture is a young city's: its population came from across China to work in the steel works. The fortress and the story of the wall dominate its identity, along with the legend of the “one spare brick” said to have been left over at the completion of the pass, when the builder had calculated the materials exactly.

Getting around

Jiayuguan South is on the Lanzhou–Xinjiang high-speed line; Jiayuguan station serves the conventional line.
Jiayuguan Airport has domestic flights; the pass and the Great Wall sites lie a short drive west of the centre.

Day trips

July First Glacier
七一冰川 (Qīyī Bīngchuān)
A glacier in the Qilian Mountains south of the city, reached by mountain road.
Wei–Jin tombs
新城魏晋墓 (Xīnchéng Wèi-Jìn Mù)
Painted brick tombs in the Gobi north-east of the city, one of which is open to visitors.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Jiayuguan Municipal People's Government — Jiayuguan Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
The Great Wall — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
Jiayuguan — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)

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