Ānyuǎn

Anyuan stands north of Wushaoling, the mountain barrier at the eastern entrance to the Hexi Corridor. Its old fort, also called Daban Fort, guarded the boundary between Liangzhou and Zhuanglang. Built as part of a network of frontier defences, it depended on the nearby wall and beacon towers to communicate with other fortified places. The pass and the surrounding valleys carried travellers between the Gansu interior and the oases of the corridor, through country inhabited by diverse communities.