Shanhai Pass

The Shanhai Pass (simplified Chinese: 山海关; traditional Chinese: 山海關; pinyin: Shānhǎi Guān; lit. 'Mountain Sea Pass') is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coastal plain at the foothills of the Yan Mountains and the only easily traversable landway between North and Northeast China. It is located in present-day Shanhaiguan District, Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, on the east bank of the Shi River, with defensive walls stretching from the Yan Mountains all the way to the shores of the Liaodong Bay.

Throughout Chinese history, garrisons around the pass served as frontline defensive outposts against raids and incursions into the North China Plain by various non-Sinitic ethnic groups from the Northeast (also known as Manchuria since the 19th century), including the Dongyi, Donghu (Xianbei and Wuhuan), Khitan and Jurchen (Manchus). The current Shanhai Pass was built during the early Ming dynasty as the easternmost fortification of the Ming Great Wall, and was extensively reinforced after Yongle Emperor moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing following the Jingnan campaign, making it the most important defensive barrier in all of China, as it shielded the heartland region around the imperial capital. The pass' strategic location dictated that without mounting a costly direct siege, the only way an invading army can get past the pass' defense was to circumvent it through a few treacherously narrow mountain passes within the Yan Mountains, which would make it very difficult to maintain supply lines and thus any sizeable invasions. This defensive significance therefore earned the pass the famous nickname "First Pass Under Heaven" (天下第一关).

The pass is a popular tourist destination nowadays, especially the location where the end of the Great Wall meets the Bohai Sea, nicknamed "Old Dragon's Head" (老龙头). In 1961, the pass was selected as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level by the State Council of China, and it was listed as a World Heritage Site as part of the Great Wall by UNESCO in 1987. The pass' gatehouse heritage site lies nearly 300 kilometres (190 mi) east of Beijing and is linked via the Jingshen Expressway that runs northeastward to Shenyang. The Shanhaiguan railway station, a major stop on the Beijing–Harbin railway, is located directly south of the old site of the barbican wall of the pass' main gate.