Travel Destinations: Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China

Dunhuang appears out of the blazing desert landscape in a setting of lush green fields and rolling mountainous sand dunes in the background. After continuing for miles, it is a paradise, an oasis in the heart of the desert. It is a hauntingly beautiful destination, especially at night, when the stars light up the black velvet sky – it is definitely a romantic place to travel to with the one you love.

Dunhuang is a place with a long history and it is because of this history that so many people flock to it year after year. One of the stops on the Silk Road, it is one of the oldest examples of Buddhist art and iconography in China.

The Mogao Caves (Magao Ku) are the first place tourists come to, being one of the best repositories of Buddhist art. At the height of its power, it was home to 10 monasteries where over 1400 Buddhist monks and nuns lived, as well as limitless artists, calligraphers and translators gathered. Wealthy merchants would stop here and they, along with important local officials, would commission new caves to be created and designed. This was done as a thank you or a prayer to guard their precious caravans through the dangerous terrain to the west. The first cave was created in 366 CE.

When the Silk Road ceased after the Yuan Dynasty, the caves and grottos fell into decline and were buried in time. They were only rediscovered during the early 20th century by foreign exploerors.

The Northern Wei, Western Wei and Northern Zhou Caves:

These are the earliest caves in Dunhuang and have a strong Indian feel to them in terms of design and iconography. Each of these caves houses a stupa in the middle where pilgrims would circle. The statues here are all painted in green, red and blue and were the first iconography of Buddhism in China.

The Sui Caves:

Whereas the Wei and Zhou caves have a distinctive Indian feel to them, the Sui caves can be seen as the first steps toward the first ‘real’ Chinese examples. The statues have a graceful Indian style to them but have what would become a Chinese design.

The Tang Caves:

The Tang Caves are the examples of Buddhist iconography at its peak; the Chinese government had pushed their boundaries even further west and more foreign traders were coming to and from China. Painting and sculpture techniques were refined and important aspects of Buddhism, such as the gender change of the goddess Guanyin the goddess of Mercy (she was originally a male Indian god) took place.

In the Tang caves, you can admire the beautiful Buddhist Western Paradise which gives you a fascinating insight to what court life was like in Tang Dynasty China.
There were around 230 caves carved during the Tang Dynasty, including two colossal sized seated Buddhas. Many murals were painted over earlier ones as space was limited. In Cave 96, is the world’s third largest Buddha.

You can only visit the caves here with a guide, not on your own. The admission fee of Y100 gives you access to 10 caves including the famous Library Cave and the chance to view a fascinating exhibit of rare manuscripts in ancient Uighur and Manichean.

The Western Thousand Buddha Caves are totally different from the Mogao Caves and can be found about 35km west of Dunhuang. There are 16 caves hidden away, six open to the public, and are from different periods in Chinese history, from the Northern Wei to the Tang dynasties. The Buddhist art here is not as impressive as the Magao caves but there are fewer crowds so you can enjoy yourselves and appreciate them much more.

There are other places to visit in Dunhuang; Crescent Moon Lake at Mingsha Shan and the Yadan National Park and Jade Gate Pass are all wonderful places to relax and explore and take in the culture and rich history of this wonderful city.