Old photo: The splendid Jiayuguan City was ruined and desolate in the late Qing Dynasty.

"Dim swords, drums far away, flying ahead one by one, fresh faces; The ancient road of Huangchen was lost, and the border town was deserted. You can't take away the years, and there are strings of familiar names … "These lyrics are used to describe the history of Jiayuguan, the" first male pass in the world ",just right. Let's go back to the historical scene through a group of old photos and see Jiayuguan in the late Qing Dynasty.

Jiayuguan is located at the westernmost end of the Great Wall in Wan Li, at the foot of Jiayu Mountain. It is majestic, steep and magnificent. It is not only the traffic artery of the ancient "Silk Road", but also a battleground for military strategists, connecting the Central Plains and the Western Regions. It was built in the fifth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1372). It consists of inner city, outer city, Luocheng, Wengcheng, moat and the Great Wall on the north and south wings, with a total length of about 60 kilometers.

Jiayuguan city consists of three lines of defense: inner city, outer city and moat. It guards the canyon area with a width of about15km from north to south, with 66 piers in the east, west, south, north and northeast of Guancheng. Both offensive and defensive, constitute a strict military defense system, so it has the reputation of "the best in the world".

Jiayuguan city is located in the desert Gobi, so don't stand on the high ground and take pictures of endless yellow sand, which is full of desolation. From the current scientific point of view, the average annual rainfall in this area is only 85.3 mm, which belongs to a typical temperate continental desert climate.

Before the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Jiayuguan had no city, but only played the role of checking pedestrians. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, decided to build Guancheng here. Soon, a loess rammed city rose from the ground and became a national defense center in the west. Since then, many Ming emperors have ordered the addition of Jiayuguan, making it a relatively complete defensive castle.

After entering the Qing Dynasty, wars in Jiayuguan area were not as frequent as before, and commercial exchanges were more prosperous. By the Jiaqing period, it had become a trade control barrier, imposing tariffs on more and more business travelers.

Cotton, grapes, sheep, horses, camels and jade articles from Xinjiang and Central Asia are all transported to the mainland through Jiayuguan, while tea, silk, cotton cloth, porcelain and medicinal materials from the mainland are also transported to Xinjiang and Central Asia through Jiayuguan.

During the Tongzhi period in the late Qing Dynasty, the Shaanxi-Gansu region was once again hit by a bonfire, and Jiayuguan was hit hard. The shops, tea shops, hotels and houses in the city are scattered and desolate, and the population is far less dense than before. Decades have passed, and the reconstruction here has not been completed.

188 1 year, the Ili treaty was signed, and the Qing court approved Russian businessmen to trade in Jiayuguan. Jiayuguan became a trading port on the Silk Road, and the Qing government levied taxes here, which increased the function of "foreign customs".

By the time Morrison arrived, Jiayuguan had been severely damaged. He saw: "The current fortress is mainly used as a pass, and there is no garrison. No defensive measures were taken except for a few piles of stones piled along the city wall to prevent thieves. " He photographed the only unarmed soldier in this low and shabby post.