The Lazikou Pass (), also known as Latsekhok (), is a narrow mountain pass in the Min Mountain Range, Têwo County,

Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ( zh, c=甘南藏族自治州, p=Gānnán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu; ) is an autonomous prefecture in southern Gansu Province, China, bordering Linxia to the north, Dingxi to the northeast, Longnan to the east ...

, southern

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

, Northwestern part of China. The pass forms a gateway between northwestern

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

( Ngawa) and southern Gansu. It is of historical significance due to its strategic importance in the final phase of the

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

. During the Long March, the Lazikou Pass was the last major obstacle for the forces led by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

(i.e. Red Army of China) to reach northern Gansu after their crossing of the Zoigê Marsh. The pass had been fortified with blockhouses by

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

forces and was taken by mountaineers led by Yang Chengwu on September 16, 1935.Tony Jaques: Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: F-O, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007
/ref> In 2014, the 3,735 m long Lazikou Tunnel was completed, which bypasses the mountain pass.

References

Mountain passes of China Military operations of the Chinese Civil War Landforms of Gansu {{PRChina-geo-stub