LANZHOU, China -- Four hundred kilometers from Dunhuang the Jiayuguan Pass, the "Greatest Pass Under Heaven," marks the old border between China proper and the Western Territories. The Chinese considered it the outer limit of civilization. In the 5th century B.C. the legendary Taoist master Laozi, aged 200 or so, rode his buffalo through the pass and into the sunset, leaving the "Dao De Jing" with the guardian of the gate. Three centuries later General Zhang Qian went by on his quest for the flying horses of Ferghana.

Jiayuguan, situated in a narrow section of the Gansu Corridor between the Black Mountains and the Qilianshan peaks, was always well guarded and later became the westernmost defense of the Great Wall. The watchtowers and ramparts of a 14th-century fort continue to look out over the same bleak landscape, and the West Gate echoes the hopes and fears of the intrepid travelers, dedicated pilgrims or unfortunate exiles who ventured into the desert beyond, bound for the unknown. According to local superstition, if they threw a stone at the gate upon leaving and it rebounded, they would surely return to their earlier domestic life.

Domestic life, such as it was in Jiayuguan around the 3rd and 4th centuries, is vividly illustrated on painted bricks found in the Wei Jin tombs, a few kilometers from the fort. People are seen making bread, tending silk worms, hunting antelope, herding camels, playing music. These delightful vignettes leave a lively impression of the past as one boards the train for the all-too-modern city of Lanzhou.