Yangguan Pass once was the gateway to the Xiyu area and an important pass on the Silk Road. Eminent Buddhist monk Xuan Zang set foot there on his return to Chang'An (Xian) from India. During that period, Yangguan Pass, as a military stronghold, was rich in water and was an oasis.
The location of ancient Yangguan Pass was submerged by the desert, the city of Yangguan Pass being unable to escape too, leaving only the remains of the beacon tower of Dundun Hill to witness the vicissitudes of Chinese history. But it is a desert full of precious deposits. There is a legend that the trousseau of a princess of the Tang dynasty was buried here by a sudden sandstorm. For this reason, locals call this desert 'curio beach'.
Do not be dismayed by the loss of civilization and historical grandeur, for the museum of Yangguan Pass offers you a glimpse of history. Here there is an exhibition hall of the Silk Road, a decorated archway of Han Dynasty, an old street of Yangguan Pass, the art of great mural in Silu Youyi Tu (Silk Road Friendship Picture), large engravings, Yangguan Pass stone carvings and so on. It is a living history of Yangguan Pass's ups and downs that also shows the construction style of the Han Dynasty.
