Yanmen Pass, Mountain pass and Great Wall gate complex in Dai County, Shanxi, China

Yanmen Pass is a fortified mountain pass on the Great Wall in Dai County, Shanxi. Its core is a 10-metre-high brick and rammed-earth wall about 1 kilometre around, with gates on the east, west and north sides. The east gate bears the plaque "Tianxian" (Heavenly Hazard) and the west gate "Dili" (Terrestrial Advantage); the north gate, the outer barbican gate, reads "Yanmenguan" and carries the couplet "Three borders' foremost strategic point, first of the Nine Fortresses". A 5-kilometre outer wall follows the ridge, backed by three large and 25 small stone barriers.

King Yong of Zhao conquered the Loufan and Linhu tribes in 306 and 304 BC and organized the region as Yanmen Commandery, but his earthen ramparts ran farther north, near modern Hohhot; the pass itself was held by a fort on a local hill. A Great Wall line was first built through the pass by the Northern Qi in 557, under Emperor Gao Yang, using more than 1.8 million laborers. The Ming rebuilt the pass in 1374 under Lu Xiang, with major repairs in 1587 and 1867.

The name Yanmen means "Wild Goose Gate": the mountains form a door-like gap between two peaks, and wild geese migrate through it. East of the pass stands the Jingbian Shrine, dedicated to the Warring States general Li Mu, who defended the Zhao frontier; only its stone platform, stone lions, stone flagpoles and several Ming and Qing inscriptions remain.

The scenic area lies just outside Yanmenguan Village, about 20 km north of the county seat Shangguan in Dai County. The site is spread over steep hillsides, with stone steps linking the gatehouses, so allow time for walking. The Baicaokou Great Wall section nearby is among the best-preserved stretches of the Ming wall.

The gatehouses seen today are largely modern work: between 2009 and 2011, craftsmen known as the "Yang family artisans" rebuilt 1,800 metres of wall, three watchtowers, five gate towers and a pagoda, restoring the Dili and Wengcheng gates and reconstructing Weiyuan Gate and Mingyue Tower. An earlier three-year project from 1988 re-erected the Yanmen Tower under Yang Guiting.