Jiuquan

Strategically positioned at the western end of the Hexi Corridor, Jiuquan served as a key military and trading post for over two millennia. The city's name — "Wine Spring" — derives from a Han dynasty legend of a general rewarding his troops with wine poured into a spring. Today Jiuquan is best known as the site of China's premier spaceport, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at Shuangchengzi, which remains open to limited tourist visits. The Guazhou area east of the city offers dense clusters of ancient Silk Road ruins, wind-eroded yardang landforms and the legendary Yumen Pass.