Jiayuguan嘉峪关

Province:Gansu
Population:115,000
Jiayuguan City is a prefecture-level city in Gansu, China, with a population of 127,532 as of 2007. It is most famous for the nearby Jiayu Pass, the largest and most intact pass of the Great Wall of China. In ancient times, many inns were built near the pass. Gradually, more and more people decided to stay there for business and Jiayuguan City was built. At present, Jiayuguan City is not only famous for Jiayuguan Pass but also for Jiuquan Steel Company built in 1958. The steel company is the largest in Gansu Province.
Jiayuguan and its fort represented the Wild West frontier of Ancient China. In centuries past there were many levels of capital punishment, the highest being death by decapitation or strangulation. The next level of severity was banishment for life from the capital. The worse the crime, the further you were sent from Beijing. Jiayuguan was considered the furthest place to be sent, a land of barbarians and criminals.
Today Jiayuguan is a relatively wealthy industrial center producing chemical fertilizers, cement and iron, with the raw materials coming from nearby mines.It is richer per capita than Xi’an and the government is in the process of building a large steel plant which will bring more money to the area.