Hangu Pass was built during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. "It is named because it is as deep and dangerous as a letter in the valley. It stretches from Xiaoshan in the east to Tongjin in the west. It is commonly known as Han Valley and is known as a natural danger" ("Cihai"). Hangu Pass guards the throat of Xiaohan. It is connected to Hengling Mountains in the west, Juejian Mountain in the east, Qinling Mountains in the south, and Yellow River in the north. The terrain is dangerous and the roads are narrow. It is known as "cars do not have square tracks, and horses do not have bridles". "Taiping Huanyu Ji" states that "the city has a river in the north, a mountain in the south, a circuit of five miles and forty steps, and a height of two feet." Guancheng is grand and majestic, with its towers leaning against the golden green. Because it is located in the center of the Taolin Fortress and the throat of the ancient Xiaohan Road, it is known as "the sky opens in the middle of the Hangu Zhuangguan, and the eternal dust is shaking to the north sky" (Hu Su's poem of the Tang Dynasty) , "The twin peaks towering beside the Taihe River have been a battlefield in Hangu since ancient times" (Jin Xinyuan's poem), and there is a saying that "one man can guard the gate, but ten thousand men cannot open it".
In the third year of King Shenliang of Zhou Dynasty (318 BC), the five kingdoms of Chu, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Yan attacked Qin. Qin defeated the six kingdoms armies based on the natural danger of Hangu Pass. In the sixth year of the First Emperor of Qin (241 BC), the five kingdoms of Chu, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Wei attacked Qin. "As far as Hanguan, they were all defeated." During the Warring States period, Wei occupied Hangu Pass and locked up Qin, while Qin occupied Hangu Pass and left Shandong. The six kingdoms jointly attacked Qin all with Hangu Pass as the battlefield.
During the Chu-Han War at the end of Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang once guarded the pass to stop Xiang Yu's attack. During the "Anshi Rebellion" in the Tang Dynasty, officers and soldiers and rebels fought in the famous Taolin Battle in front of the pass.
In more than two thousand years since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Hangu Pass has experienced the struggle between the Seven Heroes for hegemony, the struggle between Chu and Han, the peasant uprisings of Huang Chao and Li Zicheng, as well as the revolution of 1911, the Anti-Japanese War, and the War of Liberation. Whether it is to compete in the Central Plains or to enter Guanzhong, it is an important passage from Shandong to Guanzhong, which shows the importance of Hangu Pass. Hangu Pass has always been a strategic location that military strategists must compete for.
The fifty-kilometer-long canyon has Hangu Pass at its east end and Tongguan Pass at its west end. "Historically, there were 13 important wars that took place at Hangu Pass, and as many as 45 at Tongguan." There were many permanent troops stationed there, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. The military role of this section of the canyon was praised by the monarchs of all dynasties. Remember. Laozi (about 575 BC?), also known as Lao Dan, was one of the greatest philosophers and thinkers in ancient my country, the founder of the Taoist school, and a world cultural celebrity. Later generations called him "Laozi" (the pronunciation of the word "Lao" in ancient times was the same as the word "Li"). He was a native of Qurenli, Lixiang, Kuxian County, Chu State (now Luyi, Henan Province). He was an outstanding thinker and politician in the late Spring and Autumn Period of our country. The poet, philosopher and writer was not only the founder of Taoist school theory and later regarded as the ancestor of Taoism, but also the enlightener of hundreds of schools of thought in the pre-Qin period. His book "Tao Te Ching", also known as "Laozi", is a treasure in the world's cultural treasure house. Since the publication of the Tao Te Ching, everyone from the emperor and senior officials to the common people have had great enthusiasm for studying this classic work. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 1,800 versions recorded in historical materials. Not only did it have widespread and far-reaching influence in China, but it was also spread abroad in Sanskrit in the seventh century AD. It spread to European and American countries in the 18th century, and then gradually became popular all over the world. The famous German philosopher Hegel once pointed out: "Another unique sect in Chinese philosophy... is characterized by speculation. The main concept of this sect is Tao, which is reason. This sect's philosophy is closely related to the life of philosophy. The master of the method is Lao Tzu. "The German philosopher Nietzsche said: "The Tao Te Ching is like a well that never dries up, full of treasures that are readily available when you put down the bucket." Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan said in his 1987 State of the Union address. , once quoted Laozi's famous saying "Governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies" to explain his strategy of governing the country. Laozi's thoughts are broad, profound, and rich in content, involving all aspects of heaven, earth, and man. He has unique insights and wisdom in the fields of politics, economy, military, art, ethics, and health preservation.
Studying Laozi’s thoughts has become an international cultural phenomenon. More than 40 countries, including Britain, France, the United States, and Japan, are studying the Tao Te Ching. There have been more than 600 translated versions of the Tao Te Ching, of which more than 330 were written by Japanese. Since the Tao Te Ching was written at Hangu Pass, Hangu Pass has truly become the birthplace of Taoist culture. On October 20, 2002, Min Zhiting, the president of the China Taoist Association and a Taoist from Yuxi, inscribed the words "The Origin of Taoism" for the Hanguguan Tourist Area. 1. Guancheng Ruins
No buildings remain. According to research, Hangu Pass City is an irregular rectangle, which is made of long, round and flat rams. The east city wall is 1,800 meters long, the west city wall is 1,300 meters long, and the south city wall is more than 180 meters long. The ruins are basically consistent with historical records.
2. Hangu Pass East Gate Tower
The original gate tower no longer exists. What we saw in 2000 was a retro building that started construction in 1992.
The Dongmenguan Tower is 71.2 meters long from north to south and 21.5 meters high. It is concave in shape and faces west to east, controlling the main entrance to the pass. Guanlou is a three-story mountaintop-style building with double doors and double buildings. Each roof is decorated with a red phoenix, so it is also called "Danfeng Tower".
3. Hangu Ancient Road
Starting from the east gate of Hangu Pass on the west bank of Hongnong Stream in the east, crossing Guancheng to the west, starting from Guogou, Huanghe Valley, Langpi in Wangduo Village The total length of 15 kilometers from the ditch to the ancient mulberry field (today's Choosang) is the only east-west passage in this area. The depth of the valley is 50 to 70 meters, the width of the valley bottom is about 10 meters, and the narrow part is only 2 or 3 meters. The slope of the valley bank is 40 to 80 degrees. There are winding roads connecting the bottom of the valley. It is rugged and narrow, and the hollow valley is deep. People walking in it feel like they are writing in a letter. On both sides of the pass, there are steep cliffs and numerous peaks and rocks. The terrain is dangerous and the landscape is dense.
Ancient books say that "cars do not separate tracks and horses do not bridle together" on the Hangu Pass Road, and "a mud pill seals Hangu to the east." In 2000, a farmer in the village unearthed the remains of an ancient human while working in the fields, and found that the body had been hit by more than ten arrows. The cultural relics department identified the arrow clusters on the deceased as products from the Warring States period, which shows the signs of the war at that time.
4. Warring States Well Type Archery Storehouse
Located at the lower end of the city wall on the right side of the Cidong Gate of Hangu, it is a 0.9-meter-diameter shaft kiln-type weapons warehouse that was discovered in July 1986. , was an arrow warehouse used by customs guards to store weapons during the Warring States Period. The arrow warehouse is like a dry well. There are bundles of arrows in it, about 1 cubic meter. The arrowheads are made of copper and the arrow shafts are made of iron. They are very light and have been rusted together and cannot be separated. This archery library provides an important basis for studying the weapons of the Warring States Dynasty.
5. The ruins of Yin Xi’s former residence
It is said to be Yin Xi’s residence. Yin Xi, a native of the Spring and Autumn Period, was well versed in celestial phenomena and was once the official of Hangu Pass. Legend has it that he once received Lao Tzu here. In the 29th year of Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty (AD 741), Tian Tongxiu (a native of Taolin County), who joined the army of Prince Chen in order to please the emperor, reported to Emperor Xuanzong that a spiritual talisman had been dropped from heaven at Yinxi's former residence in Hangu. " Xuanzong was overjoyed and thought it was Laozi's gift to him, so he changed the reign name "Kaiyuan" to "Tianbao".
6. Cockcrow Terrace, also called Tianwen Terrace
The story of the idiom "Cockcrow, Dog Robber" happened here. Legend has it that the reconstructed chicken crow platform was Gaobu where Tianwen diners learned to crow chickens.
7. Wangqi Tower, also called Zhanzi Tower
It is said that this is the place where Yin Xi, the commander of Hangu Pass, climbed high to look far and observe the celestial phenomena. The idiom "Purple air comes from the east" comes from this. Du Fu, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in his poem "Autumn Rise" that "Looking to the west at the Yaochi where the Queen Mother descends, and from the east the purple air fills the pass". In order to commemorate him, later generations named the mountain where Yin Xi climbed high and looked far away: Wangqitai. In the Tang Dynasty, a "Zhanzi Tower" more than 3 feet high was built on it. This building was destroyed by war during the Republic of China.
8. Taichu Palace
It is located on the right side of the east gate of Hangu Pass. Legend has it that Yin Xi welcomed Lao Tzu to Hangu Pass, paid homage to him as a teacher, and begged Lao Tzu to write a book for him. Lao Tzu wrote the five thousand words of the Tao Te Ching here. This rich work has a great influence on later generations (some people think that it is a work in the name of later generations). In order to commemorate this event, later generations built Taichu Palace, which was once a Taoist temple, at the place where Laozi wrote scriptures.
Taichu Palace is a palace-style classical building. On the ridge of the hall and on the edge of the gable eaves are sculptures of unicorns, lions, tigers, chickens, dogs and other rare birds and animals, both in spirit and form. The flying beams on the roof of the palace are vertical and horizontal, and the rafters and purlins are uneven. Although the roof trusses are complicated, they have their own rules. The palace is wide and there are no supporting columns in the middle. According to historical records, Taichu Palace was first built in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The existing main hall of Taichu Palace was built before the Tang Dynasty and was repaired in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. There are two existing stone tablets in the temple. One was erected in the fourth year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty, and the other was erected in the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. Both of them record the story of Laozi riding a green ox through Hangu Pass.
9. Hangu Jiafu
It is located in the small valley of Mengcun Old Village, 17 kilometers north of Lingbao City, and about 2 kilometers south of the ancient Hangu Pass. Jiafu looks like a turret, a brick and wood structure, and a city gate-style building. It is divided into two doors: an inner and outer door. On the outer door, the four characters "Hangu Jiafu" are engraved on green bricks. The city gate is topped by a two-story hilltop-style quadrangular tower. In 2000, except for damage to the roof and some parts on the north side, it was basically well preserved. It is estimated that the existing building was built in the Ming Dynasty and renovated in the Qing Dynasty.
10. Hangu Stele Forest
Hangu Stele Forest was built in the autumn of 1988. It is 100 meters long from north to south and 40 meters wide from east to west. It covers an area of ??4,000 square meters and has 62 stone steles. Among them are not only ancient steles collected from various places in Lingbao, such as the legal steles of the Song Dynasty, the earthquake steles of the Tang Dynasty, the epitaph of Yang Zhongsi, the brother of Concubine Yang, the epitaph of Mrs. Xu Tianguan, the official secretary of the Ming Dynasty, etc., but also recent Famous modern calligraphers wrote new steles on which celebrities recited Hangu Pass poems and essays, such as the banner steles written by Kang Youwei in the Qing Dynasty for the then magistrate of Lingbao County, the original writing steles by Li Xiangyang, etc. Qin Pass is Hangu Pass built during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Its ruins are located in Wangduo Village, 15 kilometers north of present-day Lingbao City.
Hanguan is 500 meters east of present-day Xin'an County, Henan Province, and 150 kilometers west of Qinguan. According to Lingbao City Chronicles, since the rise of the Han Dynasty, Guanzhong has been the imperial capital, and the east of Hangu Pass has been called Guanwai. People are proud to be Guanzhong people. Yang Pu, the general of the building ship, was originally from Xin'an County east of Hangu Pass. Others said that he was an outsider. He was deeply unhappy, so he donated all his family property and settled in the east of Xin'an County in the third year of Yuanding of the Han Dynasty (114 BC). A majestic city was also built, which people called Hanhan Valley Pass. With this new pass, Pu Yang became a person in the pass. Hanguan has been abandoned for a long time, and only the ruins of the gate remain in 2000.
Weiguan is located 20 kilometers northeast of Lingbao City and about 5 kilometers away from Qinguan. It is said that during the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao attacked Zhang Lu and Ma Chao in the west. In order to quickly transport soldiers, horses and food, he ordered Xu Chu to dig a tunnel there and build a gate tower. It was not far from Qin Pass, so it was called Xinguan. This place later became an important transportation artery reaching Luoyang in the east and Chang'an in the west. During the Anti-Japanese War, the city tower was destroyed by fire and the ruins were submerged by the Sanmenxia Reservoir. Now only the ruins of the ancient road and the beacon tower remain.