Surrounded by a maze of hills and valleys, Niangziguan Pass was famed as "the Ninth Pass on the Great wall". The extant pass was built in 1542 during the Ming dynasty. The pass is flanked by mountain more than 1,000 metres high. A tributary of the Yellow River, Tao River, twists its way through the valleys below. In ancient times this provided a narrow passage for men and horses.
Legend goes that during the Tang dynasty, the army under the command of Princess Pingyang, daughter of Li Yuan, the first emperor and founder of the Tang dynasty, once garrisoned here. Hence, it was dubbed as the epithet "Ladies' Pass".