The most famous pass along the Great Wall at the border between the Hebei and Shanxi province is the Niangziguan. Niangziguan can be translated to something like Women’s Pass, and according to the legend Emperor Li Yuan of the Tang dynasty put his daughter in charge of guarding the pass together with other female soldiers.
The pass that can be seen today dates from the Ming dynasty and was constructed in 1542 but the original pass dates back to the 7th century. Since then much of the original Wall have crumbled away although the pass itself remains more or less intact and the local government initiated a plan to renovate the area in 2001.
The gate tower is now converted into a small temple and is a sad reminder of how ancient structures should not be repaired. A 1980 photo in The Great Wall Revisited by William Lindesay shows that the gate was original build by stones but after the rebuilding it’s constructed by bricks. Furthermore the watchtower above the gate has been changed from a single-storey to a multi-storey building with flying eaves.
The wall itself looks more like something you would find in an amusement park, and is by far the poorest reconstruction I have ever seen. It simply doesn’t feel right to walk here. At least at Badaling you have a feeling that the wall is reconstructed according to the original design but this feeling is completely absent at Niangziguan.
Unfortunately the amount of heavy loaded trucks in this part of China is beyond belief so I didn’t have time to search for the remains of the original wall which should be located beyond the mountain at the end of the restored section.
I my opinion the Guguan pass not far from here is a much better choice for Great Wall enthusiasts visiting the Shanxi-Hebei border area.
Entrance price: 10 RMB
Date of visit: March 23, 2008
2 Responses to “Niangziguan”
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From the pass tower I see here that the wall extends up (to the right in your photo) at a pretty steep angle, maybe 45 degrees. Is this wall open and accessible? Is it rebuilt? Did you take any photos of this area?
Yes, the wall continues up the mountain from the gate tower. The wall is repaired here and part of the wall can be seen in the second picture. It’s possible to walk about one kilometre on the repaired wall before it stops at the foot of another mountain. There seemed to be a original watchtower on the top of the mountain but unfortunately I didn’t have time to climb to the top to see if the original wall is persevered in this area.
For more pictures of this area please be patient until I finish my web gallery.