Alataw Pass

Dzungarian Gate
Alataw Pass
Satellite photograph of the Dzungarian Gate, the pale, fault-lined valley running between Lake Alakol and Lake Ebinur through the Dzungarian Alatau mountain range.
Location	China–Kazakhstan border
Range	Dzungarian Alatau
Coordinates	45°30′N 82°20′E / 45.500°N 82.333°E / 45.500; 82.333Coordinates: 45°30′N 82°20′E / 45.500°N 82.333°E / 45.500; 82.333
The Dzungarian Gate in Kazakhstan on the border of China.

The Dzungarian Gate is a geographically and historically significant mountain pass between China and Central Asia. It has been described as the "one and only gateway in the mountain-wall which stretches from Manchuria to Afghanistan, over a distance of three thousand miles." Given its association with details in a story related by Herodotus, it has been linked to the location of legendary Hyperborea.

The Dzungarian Gate (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; [Jetisy' qaqpasy Жетісу қақпасы or Jon'g'ar qaqpasy Жоңғар қақпасы] error: {{lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a straight valley which penetrates the Dzungarian Alatau mountain range along the border between Kazakhstan and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It currently serves as a railway corridor between China and the west. Historically, it has been noted as a convenient pass suitable for riders on horseback between the western Eurasian steppe and lands further east, and for its fierce and almost constant winds.

In his Histories, Herodotus relates travelers' reports of a land in the northeast where griffins guard gold and where the North Wind issues from a mountain cave. Given the parallels between Herodotus' story and modern reports, scholars such as Carl Ruck, J.D.P. Bolton and Ildikó Lehtinen have speculated on a connection between the Dzungarian Gate and the home of Boreas, the North Wind of Greek mythology. With legend describing the people who live on the other side of this home of the North Wind as a peaceful civilized people who eat grain and live by the sea, the Hyperboreans have been identified by some as the Chinese.