Cloud Platform at Juyong Pass

The Cloud Platform at Juyongguan (simplified Chinese: 居庸关云台; traditional Chinese: 居庸關雲臺; pinyin: Jūyōngguān Yúntái) is a mid-14th-century architectural feature situated in the Guangou Valley at the Juyongguan Pass of the Great Wall of China, in the Changping District of Beijing Municipality, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northwest of central Beijing.

It was part of the Buddhist Yongming Baoxiang Temple (永明寶相寺), which was situated at the Juyongguan Pass northwest of the capital, Dadu (modern Beijing).

[3][4] It is recorded that in 1343 the official Ouyang Xuan (歐陽玄, 1283–1358) was paid 50 taels of silver for writing dedicatory inscriptions on two stelae to commemorate the completion of the "crossing street tower" at Juyongguan.

[5] The Qing Dynasty scholar Gu Yanwu (1613–1682) suggested that the construction of the Cloud Platform was begun in 1326, on the basis that the History of Yuan records that a Uyghur official called Uduman (兀都蠻) was sent to carve dharanis in the language of the western barbarians (i.e. Tibetan) on the rockface at Juyongguan.

[9] The restoration involved building a five-roomed wooden Buddhist hall, called the Tai'an Temple (泰安寺), on top of the platform, in place of the original dagobas.

Several hundred meters from the Cloud Platform in adjoining carparks are sections of the Great Wall going up both sides of the Valley, often crowded with tourists climbing up to panoramic views.

The Buddhist iconography is typical of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, and was intended to bring blessings on those who passed through the passageway, and to protect the Yuan state and its capital from misfortune.

On each side of each arch is a crossed vajra (viśvavajra), above which is an elephant surmounted by a youth riding a mythical creature.