Laolongtou which means Old Dragon Head is a site located in the south side of Shanhaiguan Pass. It is the entrance of the eastern Ming Great Wall of China. There is a stone city as an entrance to the Bohai Sea. This stone city stretches 23 meters into the sea like a dragon drinking water, hence its name.
This part of the Great Wall was built in the 7th year of Wanli reign in the Ming dynasty (1579) and was mended in the 7th year of Kangxi reign in the Qing dynasty (1668). Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty would stop here for a visit on their way to Fengtian (Present – day Shenyang) to worship their ancestors, which makes the city even more worthy of its name. Standing at Laolongtou, facing the misty sea, visitors can easily picture Emperor Qin (221-207 BC), the first emperor of China, sending people into the sea here to find a drug that would give him immortality. You can see the Great Wall as it zigzags over the rolling mountains like a giant dragon to the north.
