CHINA 5A TRAVEL
Where the Great Wall marches into the Bohai Sea - the 1381 fortress that guards the corridor between North China and Manchuria, crowned by the 'First Pass Under Heaven' tower and the Old Dragon's Head reaching into the waves.
Shanhaiguan - 'the Pass Between Mountain and Sea' - was built in 1381 at the narrow neck of land where the Yanshan Mountains meet the Bohai coast. As the eastern terminus of the Ming Great Wall and the boundary between the pass interior and the Manchurian frontier beyond, it was Beijing's most strategic northeastern shield, praised in the famous couplet: 'Matchless key between two capitals, the First Pass under ten-thousand miles of wall.'
The fortress is a complete Ming military system - walled city, barbicans, outworks, flanking towers and beacon platforms - centered on the great east gate tower whose horizontal plaque reads Tianxia Diyi Guan, 'The First Pass Under Heaven,' in characters over a meter tall. From the tower parapet the wall runs south to the Old Dragon's Head, the stone sea-wall that ends the Great Wall in the surf of Bohai Bay, and north up Jiaoshan, the 'First Mountain' the wall climbs.
Today the restored old city inside the walls adds lantern-lit nights around the Bell-and-Drum Tower, a Great Wall museum, the legend-temple of Lady Meng Jiangnu, and the local signature feast - a copper 'hun guo' hotpot layered with pickled cabbage, pork and Bohai seafood. Most visitors pair the pass with the beaches of Beidaihe, twenty minutes west.
Highlights
The First Pass tower
The great east gate with its famous right-to-left plaque; walk the wall circuit above the gate for the classic view over tiled roofs to the sea.
Old Dragon's Head
The only place on Earth where the Great Wall runs into the sea - the stone 'dragon head' citadel stands in the Bohai surf, glorious at sunset.
Jiaoshan Great Wall
The steep wall climbing the 'First Mountain' of the Great Wall, with big views over emerald Yansai Lake in the valley behind.
Old city at night
Red lanterns along the flagstone streets radiating from the Bell-and-Drum Tower - the quiet, atmospheric side of the fortress after day-trippers leave.
Chuang Guandong heritage park
An experience hall telling the epic migration 'beyond the pass' to Manchuria that Shanhaiguan's gate symbolized for millions.
Great Wall Museum
Free museum by the gate mapping the whole wall system - the best orientation before climbing any of it.
Photo Gallery
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