Xifengkou

Xifengkou ( Chinese 喜峰口 , Pinyin Xǐfēngkǒu - "Pass of the Happiness Summit") is a pass fortress of the Great Wall of China in Zunhua County in Hebei Province . Xifengkou is one of the 32 important pass fortresses built by General Xu Da during the Ming Dynasty .

history

The fortress was built towards the end of the 14th century during the Ming Dynasty and has been steadily strengthened since then. In 1452 the 13 m high watchtower "Zhenyuan Lou" ("Watchtower to pacify the border") was completed. In the 16th century, the neighboring fortress Panjiakou (formerly Lulongbao) was built under Jiajing . After the construction of the Panjiakou Reservoir to supply Tianjin in 1976, parts of Panjiakou, Xifengkou and the adjacent walls sank in the water.

The current name "Summit of Happiness" ( 喜峰 , Xifeng ), which has existed since around 1452, developed from the old name "Place of happy reunification", which is said to go back to a legend about the reunion of father and son who had been separated for a long time .

The fortress

Xifengkou is located in the valley of the Luan He ( Chinese 滦河 ). To the west of Luan He is the gate of the Panjiakou Pass, to the east of the Tienmen ( Tienmenguan ) pass and the Dongjiakou wall passage . The elevation of the terrain is approx. 200 m in the south and up to 1,000 m in the north; the Luan He valley forms a natural passage through the mountainous landscape.

Xifengkou consisted of two parts, the pass fortress ( Guan Cheng ) and a citadel. In the southeast of the pass was the 20 m diameter stone fort of Guan Cheng with a west and a south gate. The circumference of the fort was about 1.5 km, the wall was in some places over 8 m high.

As a result of the construction of the Panjiakou Reservoir, parts of the walls that are visible below the surface of the water have sunk into the lake. The surrounding landscape and Xifengkou are often used as a backdrop in Chinese films due to the picturesque scenery.

Strategic importance

Because of the intersection of Luan He with the wall, Xifengkou occupied a strategically important position. It was on a key route that connected several landscapes: the Linhe Basin to the east , the Western Liao River ( Xiliao He ) to the north, and the Mongolian plateau to the east . To the southwest, the road led through Zunhua and Jixian County to Beijing . Even today, the route is still an important link between the south and north sides of the Yan Mountains .

Xifengkou is a well-known old battlefield where military conflicts have been fought time and again. From Lulongbao the Han marched out under Cao Cao against Wuhuan , and at the end of the Ming dynasty the Qing soldiers broke through at Panjiakou .

The last time it was fought here in the run-up to the Second Sino-Japanese War . The Japanese Kwantung Army advanced against Xifengkou on March 2, 1933 as part of their campaign against Beijing. After bitter resistance from poorly equipped Chinese forces, the Chinese positions near Xifengkou were abandoned on April 8th. A memorial nearby commemorates the events of the war.