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China: The harsh, crumbling mountains surrounding Tiemenguan (The Iron Gate Pass), the ancient strategic strongpoint controlling the Silk Road near Korla, Xinjiang Province

Located about 7km northeast of Korla, the ancient strongpoint of Tiemenguan or 'Iron Gate' is set amid incredibly barren, harsh and crumbling mountains. It’s possible to understand the immense strategic significance of the ‘Iron Gate’ pass by climbing the 1,497 steps to the summit.

Here the tomb of the lovers Tzuhola and Tayir is set high above the narrow defile that once channelled the old Silk Road between two massive and impassable rocky outcrops. A small path winds by a stream, far below – nowadays all but unused, but for at least two millennia a narrow artery for men, good and camels passing between east and west.

Because of its strategic location controlling the Silk Road as it passed south of the Tian Shan and into the Tarim Basin, Tiemenguan was easily defended by garrison troops and almost impossible for merchants and other travellers to avoid.

For Uighurs the narrow pass is associated with tragedy in love. Long ago Tzuhola, a Uighur princess, fell in love with Tayir, a simple shepherd. Her father, the king, had intended the princess to marry a prince, and was greatly displeased. The two lovers fled into the mountains pursued by the king’s troops, who had orders to bring them back. They fell to their deaths near Tiemenguan and the king, who was heartbroken, ordered the building of a twin tomb so they could be together in the afterlife. A statue of the two lovers in flight on horseback has recently been erected near the tomb.