The gate tower
Between the cliffs.
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A mountain pass between towering cliffs in the Dajian, or «Great Sword», Mountains, for centuries Sichuan's northern gateway on the ancient Shu Roads; it is counted among China's four great passes, called by the Chinese «the most perilous under heaven», and lies less than two hundred kilometres north of Chengdu. Tradition holds that Zhuge Liang, the famous chancellor of the Three Kingdoms era, set a gate here while repairing the mountain roads, and that the general Jiang Wei held it against the army of Wei. The poet Li Bai described the place in his famous line: «one man holds the pass, and ten thousand cannot force it». The old Ming gate was pulled down in 1932 to make way for a road, rebuilt in the 1980s, burned in 2005 and wrecked by the 2008 earthquake, and the present gate tower was built in 2009 on the old site. Visitors walk wooden walkways hung on the cliffs and stretches of the old stone-paved Shu Road beneath ancient cypresses, and some ride the cable car to the top; the town is known for its tofu dishes. Tickets cost CNY 105 from March to November and 90 in winter, the cable car 50 one way and 90 return, and it is open from 8 am to 6 pm, per visitor guides.
Between the cliffs.
On the rock face.
Under ancient cypresses.
Jianmenguan town, Jiange County, south-west of Guangyuan, Sichuan
The stairs and cliff walkways are steep in places, but the cable car cuts out the climb to the top, and you can simply walk around the gate below.
Choices are few in the town, though the local tofu dishes are often vegetarian, so ask about ingredients, and look in Guangyuan city for restaurants under the halal sign.