Dunhuang was a famous and important city along the silk road in ancient China. Everyday many various goods were exchanged here, hustle and bustle. while today the noisy prosperity has past only left the city standing lonely in the vast desert. Thangks to its Mogao Grottoes, it came to step into the public view and was remebered by the rest of world. Now, it was located in the north-west of Gansu Province. you can vitit there by plane or train. Dunhuang is the home of Mogao Grottoes, one of the world heritage, which is famous for its grottoes and frescos.
Major attractions:
Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang:
Mogao Grottoes, “the world’s art treasures” was commonly called Thousand Buddhas Cave. 25km away from Dunhuang city, it was first bulit during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420). there are 492 existing grottoes which keep frescos of successive dynasties since Eastern Jin Dynasty. Those frescos in different forms and contents have the highly ornamental value and the special research value as visual materials to study the people’s life in ancient life. It was fist discovered in 1900 by a Taoist priest and then was spread to the outside world. A new world-famous discipline-Dunhuang Xue began to emerge with the further research of its value around the world. Today’s Mogao Grottos, embraced by beautiful sceneries is also a tourist place.
Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring:
Echoing-Sand Dune is located on the southern outskirts, six kilometers from Dunhuang City. When people slide down on the sand of the mountain, it produces a ringing sound, hence its name “Echoing-Sand Dune”. Crescent Spring, called Yueyaquan in Chinese, is named so due to its surface in a crescent shape. they are located together which created the special view that the mountain encircles the lake.
Dunhuang Yadan Geoparks:
Dunhuang Yadan Geoparks is commonly known as Mogui cheng which means demon city, 185 km away from Dunhuang, 85 kilometers west of the Yumen Pass, Actually, it is a community wind landforms with ordered structure and Peculiar shape. It is also a rarely natural sculpture gallery. The panorama here just like a Medieval Castle, once you step into these landforms and come across a windy day, you will hear screaming and howling like ghosts and wolves. so the name Damon city.
Yumen Pass and Yangguan Pass:
These two passes were both strategic passes on the ancient Silk Road and were built for ensuring safe of the Han kindom and smooth of Silk Road in the Han Dynasty. while today, there are hardly any walls in sight, the only visible sections being the foundations of some of the walls. To the south of the mound is an expanse where one may find millions pieces of broken tile over an area of twenty square kilometers, some of the last evidence of civilization here.