How do I get to Juyongguan from Beijing?

1，Transportation:

01，Driving: Start from Dongzhimen – Dongzhimen Beixiaojie – Second Ring Road – G6 Beijing-Tibet Expressway – G6 Beijing-Tibet Expressway exit – Juyongguan Great Wall Scenic Area (It is recommended to park in Parking Lot No. 3 for free. It is in the middle between the east and west lines and close to the Cloud Platform. Parking Lot No. 1 is not recommended).

02，Public transportation:

Juyongguan Great Wall Google Map Location

Route of Bus No. 919: Jishuitan Station – Yanqing Stadium Community Station (one way). Get off at Juyongguan Great Wall Station. Note that it is the slow regular Bus No. 919, not the express Bus No. 919. (For the return trip, take Bus No. 20 from Parking Lot No. 3. The last bus is at 17:30).
Route of Bus No. Chang 20: Shahe Station – Juyongguan Great Wall Station (round trip).
Route of Bus No. 879: Dingling Station – Badaling Great Wall Station (round trip). Get off at Juyongguan Village Station.

03，Subway: Take Line 2 outer loop in the direction of Yonghegong from Dongzhimen Subway Station to Jishuitan Subway Station – Exit B2 northeast. Walk for 10 minutes to Deshengmen Bus Station and take Bus No. 919 in the direction of Stadium Community to Juyongguan Great Wall Bus Station.

2，Latest business hours of Juyongguan Great Wall Scenic Area

1，From March 16 to October 7 every year:

For Entrance No. 1 Reservoir and Entrance No. 3 North Pass, business hours: 6:30 – 18:00. Ticket sales and entrance stop at 17:30.

For Entrance No. 2 South Pass and Entrance No. 4, business hours: 8:30 – 17:00. Ticket sales and entrance stop at 16:30.

2，From October 8 of each year to March 15 of the following year:

Business hours: 8:30 – 17:00. Ticket sales and entrance stop at 16:30.

Ticket price: 40 yuan/person for adult ticket. 69 yuan for couple ticket.

3，Route introduction of Juyongguan Great Wall

Juyongguan Great Wall is overall a circular closed loop, roughly divided into counterclockwise and clockwise directions. Specifically, entering from the scenic area entrance, there are two directions: East Mountain Great Wall and West Mountain Great Wall. The altitude slope of East Mountain is relatively gentle, while West Mountain is relatively steep. You can choose a suitable route according to your own situation.

Map of Juyongguan Great Wall

✅The west line is steeper and the east line is gentler. The two lines add up to a total of 5.5 kilometers, which will be relatively tiring. Those with good physical strength can start from the South Pass City Tower, climb up the west line to Tower No. 7, walk all the way to Tower No. 14, and then take the east line and walk from Tower No. 1 to Tower No. 6.

Route introduction:
1️⃣East line: About 1 hour.
Shorter and flatter than the west mountain line. Moreover, on the east line, you can see the “Flower Sea Train”, which is suitable for friends who don’t want too much exercise. However, the area from Shuimen Gate Tower to Tower No. 4 on the east line is not open. So you can only climb three or four towers and then return the same way.
2️⃣West line: 2 – 3 hours.
Long and relatively steep. The mountain scenery is more majestic. There is Tower No. 12, the highest peak. Suitable for young people with good physical strength. It should be noted that the steepest slope can be sixty or seventy degrees. Looking down from above is still quite frightening. Those with acrophobia should choose carefully!!
3️⃣Loop line: 3 – 4 hours.
If you have good physical strength and sufficient time, you can experience the loop line. It is recommended to climb the east line first and then the west line. Focus your energy on the west line. Because if you climb the west line first, you may not have the physical strength to go to the east line anymore.

Tourist routes of Juyongguan Great Wall

Recommended tourist routes:
1️⃣Easy tour route: Scenic area entrance – Begonia Flower Stream – Cloud Platform – South and North Arch City.
This route is relatively flat and suitable for the elderly and children.

2️⃣Photography exploration route: Scenic area entrance – Great Wall footpath – Take pictures at the highest point – Juyong Flower Sea.
This route can capture the magnificent scenery of the Great Wall and the flower sea in spring. It is very suitable for photography enthusiasts.
3️⃣Challenging climbing route: Scenic area entrance – Great Wall footpath – Climb to the highest point of the Great Wall – Walk along the Great Wall to the next beacon tower. This route is relatively steep and suitable for tourists with abundant energy. You can experience the fun of climbing the Great Wall.
4️⃣In-depth cultural route: Scenic area entrance – Juyongguan Museum – Visit historical sites – Walk along the city wall. This route can help you deeply understand the history and culture of Juyongguan.

‼️Difference from Badaling Great Wall
The main sections of the Great Wall in Beijing are mainly Badaling and Juyongguan. The main differences are: Badaling has more people and cableways, and it is farther from the urban area.Juyongguan has relatively fewer people and is closer to the urban area, but there is no cableway and you can only climb.
So for those with poor physical strength who don’t want to climb mountains, it is still recommended to choose Badaling Great Wall.

4，Introduction and historical culture of Juyongguan Great Wall

Juyongguan Great Wall is a national 4A-level scenic area in China. It is located in a canyon 20 kilometers north of Changping District, Beijing. It is 60 kilometers away from Beijing. It is an important pass of the Great Wall. The pass city is in a circular closed shape, with a length of 4,142 meters. Inside the circular Great Wall, there are both Panyu Palace and Diecui Academy for learning, as well as a business street for merchants to walk. Juyongguan Great Wall is built in a valley that is 15 kilometers long. On both sides, the mountains are overlapping, the trees are lush, the mountain flowers are brilliant, and the scenery is magnificent. The canyon where the pass city is located belongs to the Jundu Mountain Range, a branch of the Taihang Mountains. It is famous for its danger. It has the momentum of “one man guards the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it”. As early as 800 years ago in the Jin Dynasty, it was listed as one of the eight scenic spots in Yanjing and was called “Juyong Emerald Greenery”.

Juyongguan was called Xiguan in the Three Kingdoms period, Jundu Pass in the Wei Dynasty, Nakuan Pass in the Northern Qi Dynasty, Jizhou Pass and Jundu Pass in the Tang Dynasty, and Juyongguan in the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. According to records by people in the Yuan Dynasty, the name “Juyong” came from when Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall. “Yong” refers to the conscripted civilian laborers and soldiers. In fact, the name Juyongguan existed before Qin Shihuang unified the whole country. In “Lv’s Spring and Autumn Annals” completed at the end of the Warring States period, there is a record that “among the nine passes in the world, Juyong is one of them”.

The Great Wall built by Qin Shihuang did not pass here and there was no pass set up here. It was not until the Han Dynasty that there were records of setting up a pass here. But the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty did not pass here either. In the Han Dynasty, Juyongguan was just a pass between Juyong County and Jundu County at that time, not a pass on the Great Wall.

The construction of the Great Wall at Juyongguan began only from the Northern Wei Dynasty. In 555 (the sixth year of Tianbao in the Northern Qi Dynasty), a Great Wall more than 900 li long was built from Xiakou (now Nankou) in the north of Youzhou to Hengzhou (now Datong, Shanxi). Later, it was extended eastward to Shanhaiguan. At this time, Juyongguan was connected with the Great Wall and became an important pass on the Great Wall.

In 1122 (the fourth year of Xuanhe in the Northern Song Dynasty), when the Jin Dynasty conquered the Liao Dynasty, it first captured Juyongguan, and then marched southward and directly took Liao Nanjing (now Beijing). According to “Summary of Reading History and Geography {yu}” by Gu Zuyu of the Qing Dynasty, “In the fourth year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty, the Jin people sought to capture Yanjing. The Liao Dynasty guarded Juyongguan with strong troops. When the Jin army reached the pass, the cliff stones collapsed by themselves, crushing the garrison soldiers. The Liao army collapsed without a fight. The Jin army crossed the pass and marched southward and entered Yanjing”.

In the later period of the Jin Dynasty, Mongolian troops had attacked Juyongguan many times. In order to defend the pass, the Jin people sealed several passes with molten iron. For more than a hundred li inside and outside Guantou Valley, there were roadblocks and iron caltrops everywhere. And a large number of elite soldiers were sent to guard the pass. It was thought that even if the Yuan army had wings, it would be difficult to fly over Juyongguan. One can imagine the danger of Juyongguan. In 1213 (the sixth year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty), when Genghis Khan, the great khan of the Yuan Dynasty, led a large army to attack Juyongguan, he could not capture it for a long time due to the tenacious defense of the Jin army. Finally, the Mongolian army turned to attack Zijingguan. Then, bypassing Zhuozhou and Yizhou and attacking from inside and outside the pass, they captured Juyongguan.

In the Yuan Dynasty, Juyongguan was an important transportation route from Dadu (now Beijing) to Shangdu (now in Zhenglan Banner, Inner Mongolia). Because the emperor often passed by, there were palaces, temples, gardens and other buildings inside the pass. The existing Cloud Platform is the base of the overpass tower built in the Yuan Dynasty. At first, there were three Lama towers on it. They were destroyed in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. In 1439 (the fourth year of Zhengtong in the Ming Dynasty), a Buddhist hall was rebuilt on it and named Tai’an Temple. The temple was burned down during the Kangxi period. Since then, only the Cloud Platform has remained.

In the Ming Dynasty, Juyongguan further became an important military place. In the early years of Hongwu, the imperial court sent General Xu Da and Deputy General Chang Yuchun to build the Juyongguan city. Since then, it has been built in successive dynasties. Especially during the Jingtai period, the pass city was moved southward and expanded. And there were two gates for land and water. The plaques on the archways of the south and north pass cities are the authentic works of building Juyongguan in the tenth year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the city defense system of Juyongguan reached the most complete level. Its pass city defense system is composed of five defense lines from north to south: Chadao City, Juyong Outer Town (i.e., Badaling), Shangguan City, Zhongguan City (i.e., Juyongguan City), and Nankou. And Juyongguan is the location of the command center.

In 1644 (the seventeenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty), Li Zicheng’s peasant uprising army captured Xuanfu and forced Juyongguan. The eunuch Du Zhizhi and the general Tang Tong surrendered. Li Zicheng crossed the pass and entered Beijing.

The Juyongguan city and the winding city wall on the east and west ridges that we see now are restored on the original site. The total length is 4,142 meters. In addition to the Great Wall on the mountain, there is also a part of the Great Wall in the river bend, which is 57 meters long. The Juyongguan Great Wall is in a circular closed form. The width, height, and changes are relatively large. The widest is 16.7 meters, and the narrowest is 1.2 meters. The Great Wall on East Mountain is about 370 meters higher than the Great Wall in the river bend. The architectural structure is diverse. When clearing the foundation, it is found that some are built with granite strips, some with crushed stones, and some with bricks. This shows that the construction periods are different. The military defense area is wide. The surrounding area is more than 50 hectares. The distance between the south and north arch cities is about 850 meters. The straight-line distance from the top of East Mountain to the top of West Mountain is 1,150 meters. The defense facilities include south and north arch cities, city towers, water gates, sluices, enemy towers, guardhouses, beacon towers, turrets, and artillery platforms.

From Nankou to Badaling in the north, in terms of terrain, there are two mountains sandwiching a river. This is Guantou Valley. More than 800 years ago, here flowed babbling brooks. In Guantou Valley, clear streams surround. On the two mountains, there are overlapping peaks, lush vegetation, and chirping birds. It is a beautiful scenic line of ancient Beijing. The emperor Jin Zhangzong of the Jin Dynasty designated this place as one of the famous “eight scenic spots of Yanjing” and named it “Juyong Emerald Greenery”. After the Jin and Yuan dynasties, this gradually became an ancient road in Guantou Valley. In history, Guantou ancient road has always been a throat passage from Beijing to the outside of the Great Wall. For a long time, especially since the first railway built by the Chinese people – the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was opened to traffic at the end of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of tourists have been attracted here. People gradually derived seventy-two scenic spots from the landscapes and historical sites here. The statements about the seventy-two scenic spots are different. In some places, even the addresses are not clear. Of course, it is impossible to accurately investigate.

The famous “Wangjing Stone” is under the city gate of “Juyong Outer Town” outside the east gate of Badaling Pass City. This large stone is about 15 meters long, about 1 meter high, and 3 meters wide. There are three big characters “Wangjing Stone” engraved on the stone. It is said that on a clear day, you can see Beijing. At that time, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi fled west in a hurry. Not knowing when she could return to Beijing, she stood on this stone and looked into the distance for a long time. Therefore, later generations named this stone “Wangjing Stone”. This name has been used until now.

1，Juyongguan is the gateway to enter Beijing from the north. It is an important barrier on the north side of the capital. The situation is dangerous. It has the momentum of “one man guards the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it”. It is one of the “nine passes in the world” in ancient times.

Juyongguan Great Wall

2，The south gate tower of the pass city is the landmark building of Juyongguan, known as “the first pass under heaven”. The city tower connects the winding city walls on the east and west ridges. The total length is 4,142 meters. Standing on the city tower of Juyongguan and looking around, one can see the importance of the Juyongguan fortress in the past.

The south gate tower of the pass city, known as “the first pass under heaven”

3，In front of the south gate of the pass city, there is a “Ying’en Square” specially built to welcome the emperor.

“Ying’en Square” for welcoming the emperor

4，After entering the city through the south gate tower of the first pass, the first thing one sees is the “Guoji Square”.

Guoji Square

5，In the center of Juyongguan, there is a base of an overpass tower, named Cloud Platform. It is named so because it looks like it is in the clouds from a distance. Under it passes a trapezoidal round arch passage.

Cloud Platform,

6，The stone walls inside and outside the archway of the Cloud Platform are carved with various exquisite Buddhist statues with vivid postures. The stone walls are carved with statues of the Four Heavenly Kings with vivid postures. The carving skills are superb. It can be called a masterpiece in Chinese architectural art. There are many stone Buddha statues carved on the stone walls of the archway.

Stone walls inside and outside the archway of the Cloud Platform

Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings

Stone Buddha statues

The stone walls of the archway are also engraved with Buddhist scriptures composed of six languages: Sanskrit, Tibetan, Mongolian, Uyghur, Western Xia script, and Chinese. It is an important historical material for studying Yuan Dynasty Buddhism, ancient characters, and cultural exchanges among various ethnic groups.

7，Outside the south gate tower of Nanguan is the barbican. Inside the barbican, there is a Guandi Temple, blessing the pass city and bringing blessings to the country and the people. Inside and outside the pass city are distributed various related facilities such as government offices, temples, and Confucian schools. Looking from the east mountain, the tall and majestic pass tower and the continuous battlements can be seen in full view.

Barbican

8，The Shuiguan was formed when the pass city was expanded and reinforced and two gates for land and water were set up during the Jingtai period.

Shuiguan

9，In history, the magnificent Juyongguan was said to be one of the “eight scenic spots of Yanjing”. On the mountain are enemy platforms and beacons. At the foot of the mountain is the Horse God Temple.

Horse God Temple

10，The Chenghuang Temple in the pass city was built during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1397). In ancient China, a moat with water was called “pool”, and a moat without water was called “city god moat”. The city god then became the god protecting the city.

Chenghuang Temple in the pass city

11，The picture shows the granary of Longqing Left Guard, the garrison troops of Juyongguan at that time. Fengyu Granary was built in the first year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1403 AD). In addition, there is one Yongfeng Granary and three round granaries.

Ancient granary

12，There is a tower on each side of the tall and majestic city tower in the north and south. They are triple-eaved hip-roofed with green glazed tiles trimmed on the edges. They are 21 meters high. The city platform below is 10 meters high. The city tower is the center for commanding operations (north city tower).

North city tower, the center for ancient command operations

13，The Zhenwu Temple in the north barbican, built in 1425, enshrines the main god Zhenwu Emperor. Zhenwu is also known as Xuanwu. He is the god of the north in ancient Chinese mythology.

Zhenwu Temple in the north barbican

14，The 78-year-old Wang Xiuqi is a “retired” old man in Juyongguan Village. His ancestors moved from Hongtong County. He was the defender of Juyongguan. After “retirement”, he opened a small store at the entrance of the village.

“Defender of Juyongguan”

1，Transportation:

2，Latest business hours of Juyongguan Great Wall Scenic Area

3，Route introduction of Juyongguan Great Wall

4，Introduction and historical culture of Juyongguan Great Wall

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