Shanhai

mountain pass, China

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Last updated

July 13, 2026

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Shanhaiguan, meaning "Pass Between the Mountains and the Sea," is a strategic location in northeastern China, incorporated into Qinhuangdao city. Historically, it was crucial for defending Beijing from the northeast and marked where the Great Wall of China met the coast. A pass was first built here in 583 CE, with a new one constructed in 1381 during the Ming dynasty. Although it lost its strategic importance in the 20th century, Shanhaiguan is now a popular tourist destination, known as "the first pass under heaven".1

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Beijing
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…of Beijing), Gubei (northeast), and Shanhai (east in Hebei, on the Bo Hai)—and are so situated that all roads leading from Mongolia and the Northeast to the North China Plain are bound to converge on Beijing. For centuries, therefore, Beijing was an important terminus of the caravan routes leading to…
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…of Beijing), Gubei (northeast), and Shanhai (east in Hebei, on the Bo Hai)—and are so situated that all roads leading from Mongolia and the Northeast to the North China Plain are bound to converge on Beijing. For centuries, therefore, Beijing was an important terminus of the caravan routes leading to…
Read More