The Hexi Corridor, the narrow stretch of land west of the Yellow River, has the Qilian snow peaks for its bones and the desert and Gobi for its skin. Stretching more than a thousand li from Wushaoling in the east to Yumenguan in the west, this ancient route once echoed with the cries of Huo Qubing's iron cavalry and the bells of Zhang Qian's camels. It also swallowed the bones of garrison soldiers and the homesick sighs of merchants. The beacon towers along the Han frontier still stand amid the wind and sand. The fading traces of the four commanderies and two passes, together with the lingering echoes of Silk Road civilization, have been etched again and again into this vast landscape by a thousand years of relentless winds.
