Tongguan or Tong Pass, was a former mountain pass and fortress located south of the confluence of the Wei River and , in today's Tongguan County, Weinan, Shaanxi, China. It was an important chokepoint, protecting Xi'an and the surrounding Guanzhong region from the North China Plain. Tong Pass was built in 196 AD by the warlord Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han dynasty. The fortress was the seat of Tongguan County, but was demolished in the 1950s to make way for the Sanmenxia Dam and reservoir.
History
Chinese culture first grew up along the
Wei River, Luo, and
Yellow River valleys of the
Loess Plateau before expanding out into the "barbarians regions. The state of Qin fortified the
Hangu Pass to the east of Tongguan as its eastern border and it continued to protect the Chinese heartland from outside attack during the
Qin dynasty and
Han dynasty dynasties. During the Eastern Han that succeeded
Wang Mang's short-lived "
Xin dynasty", the guards at Hangu reversed themselves and protected
Luoyang, capital of Easter Han, in the plains from attacks coming from the west. From the time of the AD 211 Battle of Tongguan, however, Tongguan replaced the Hangu Pass as the principal strategic post between the
Guanzhong area and the North China Plain. Under the
Tang dynasty, the fall of Tongguan to
An Lushan's rebels led directly to their capture of the capital Chang'an (now Xi'an,
Shaanxi).
[ Chinese History - Tang Dynasty: The Rebellion of An Lushan]
