Jade Gate Pass is also called "Small Fangpancheng". According to historical records, the Great Wall was reconstructed during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, in order to prevent the invasion of Huns. Along the north of Wuwei, Zhangye and Jiuquan, the newly-built Great Wall is the connection of the new one and the old Great Wall built in Qin Dynasty; in addition, it also extends to
Dunhuang in the west. At the western end of the Great Wall, two Passes were built, Yangguan Pass in the south, and Jade Gate Pass in the north, between which the distance is 70km. This layout was described in the history as "4 distributed counties, two important Passes". Five km to the west of Jade Gate Pass, a part of the sand-and-stone Great Wall constructed in Han Dynasty is kept intact with bacon towers, 15 piles of woods for firing to warn the others. It is of great uniqueness in the country.
Among these piles of woods, the big one amounts to 2 meters in length, 1.5 meters in width, and 1.3 meters in height. Today, the woods have become as hard as fossils. 1200 pieces of bamboo slips or Han Dynasty have been excavated from the bacon towers in Dunhuang. A poem, Liangzhou Ci, by Wang Zhihuan of Tang Dynasty, goes "Why does the flute of Qiang give out complaints sound? Spring never comes to Jade Gate Pass which has nothing to do with poplars and willows." These lines make the Pass well known for ever and ever. In the west of Jade Gato Pass, 50 km in length, the old site of "Silk Road" is still extant, with about 7 meters in width. From the stone-constructed road, visitors today can still find the traces of thousands of ancient people walking on it.