Whoever controls Yanmen Pass controls the realm, runs the old saying; in July 1937 architects followed a mural from a Dunhuang cave to a Tang timber hall that Japanese scholars claimed China no longer had.
谁控制雁门关,谁就控制天下,老话是这么说的;一九三七年七月,几位建筑学家循着敦煌石窟里的一幅壁画,找到了一座唐代木构大殿,而日本学者曾断言中国已没有这样的建筑。
Xinzhou holds northern Shanxi’s Great Wall pass, its Buddhist mountain and its yellow wine.
忻州拥有晋北的长城关隘、佛教名山和黄酒。
Where the Realm Was Held
守住天下的地方
Zhao Wuling’s adoption of mounted archery, Wang Zhaojun’s marriage alliance, the Yang family’s defence against the Liao and a victory over Japan in the War of Resistance are all tied to Yanmen Pass.
赵武灵王的胡服骑射、王昭君的和亲、杨家将抵御辽国、抗日战争中的雁门关大捷,都与雁门关相连。
According to Xinhua Daily Telegraph of 16 April 2024, Dai County in northern Xinzhou was once Daizhou and Yanmen Commandery and has 433 historical and cultural sites. County Party secretary Cui Zhengling says Yanmen Pass is a 5A-rated scenic area, according to the same source.
据《新华每日电讯》二零二四年四月十六日报道,忻州北部的代县历史上称代州和雁门郡,拥有四百三十三处历史文化遗迹。同一来源介绍,县委书记崔正岭称雁门关是国家5A级旅游景区。
The same report calls the Ashoka Stupa one of only 19 Buddhist relic stupas in China, Bianjing Tower the “first tower of the Great Wall” and the Dai Confucian Temple the largest preserved Ming-era Confucian complex in North China.
同一报道称,阿育王塔是全国仅有的十九座佛舍利塔之一,边靖楼是”长城第一楼”,代州文庙是华北地区保存最完整的明代文庙建筑群。
Wine, Ore and Wings
黄酒、矿藏与航线
Xinzhou’s GDP reached ¥133.04 billion in 2025, up 3.0 percent in real terms, and its resident population fell by 40,000 to 2.565 million, with the tertiary sector at 53.9 percent of GDP and the secondary sector at 37.3 percent, according to the municipal statistics bureau.
据忻州市统计局介绍,二零二五年忻州地区生产总值一千三百三十点四亿元,按不变价计算增长百分之三点零,年末常住人口二百五十六万五千人,比上年减少四万人,第三产业占地区生产总值的百分之五十三点九,第二产业占百分之三十七点三。
Dai County has 15 yellow wine producers, and its brewing technique is a provincial intangible cultural heritage item, according to Xinhua Daily Telegraph. Yanmen Wang Liquor is planning a 100,000-tonne organic yellow wine project, and a 9,000-square-metre wine fortress near the pass was nearing completion in April 2024, according to the same source. The county’s iron ore reserves rank second in Shanxi and its rutile reserves second in the country, according to the same source.
据《新华每日电讯》介绍,代县有十五家黄酒生产企业,其酿造技艺是省级非物质文化遗产。同一来源介绍,雁门王酒业规划了十万吨有机黄酒项目,二零二四年四月雁门关附近一座九千平方米的酒堡接近建成。同一来源介绍,全县铁矿储量居山西第二,金红石储量居全国第二。
Xinzhou lies on the Datong–Xi’an high-speed line, which cut Taiyuan to Xi’an to 2 hours 47 minutes after the third-quarter 2024 timetable, according to Shanxi Daily. This flight season Wutaishan Airport links Xinzhou to Shanghai, Haikou, Changsha, Nanning and Shenyang, and the Xiong–Xin high-speed railway is under construction, according to Xinzhou Daily of 30 September 2026.
据《山西日报》介绍,忻州位于大西高铁沿线,二零二四年第三季度新时刻表执行后,太原至西安只需两小时四十七分。据《忻州日报》二零二六年九月三十日的文章,本航季五台山机场通航上海、海口、长沙、南宁和沈阳,雄忻高铁正在建设。
Timber the World Thought Gone
世人以为已逝的木构
Mount Wutai has five peaks, the highest being Yedou at 3,061 metres, and the Tang monk Chengguan identified it as the Qingliang Mountain of the Huayan Sutra, according to a China Self-Drive Geography article carried by Beijing News. Under the Yuan dynasty it gained Tibetan Buddhism alongside Han Buddhism, according to the same source.
据新京报转载的《中国自驾地理》文章介绍,五台山有五座山峰,最高的叶斗峰海拔三千零六十一米,唐代僧人澄观认定它就是《华严经》中的清凉山。同一来源介绍,元代时五台山在汉传佛教之外又有了藏传佛教。
Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin, Ji Yutang and Mo Zongjiang found the East Hall of Foguang Temple on 5 July 1937, at the southern foot of Mount Wutai and shortly before the full outbreak of the War of Resistance, according to The Paper of 23 February 2020. They had been guided by a picture of Mount Wutai in the murals of Dunhuang Cave 61, according to the same source. Really? The find disproved the claim by Japanese scholars that no Tang wooden buildings survived in China, according to the same source, and Liang called the hall the first treasure of ancient Chinese architecture.
据澎湃新闻二零二零年二月二十三日的文章,梁思成、林徽因、纪玉堂和莫宗江一九三七年七月五日在五台山南麓发现了佛光寺东大殿,当时离全面抗战爆发只有几天。同一来源介绍,他们是循着敦煌莫高窟第六十一窟壁画中的五台山图找到这里的。真的吗?同一来源介绍,这一发现推翻了日本学者关于中国已没有唐代木构建筑的说法,梁思成称这座大殿是”中国古建筑第一瑰宝”。
