Mogao Grottoes

The Mogao Grottoes, twenty – five kilometers southeast of the town of Dunhuang County, contain the largest and richest treasure trove of stone carvings and mural paintings in China. Carved out along a 1,500-meter precipice, the 492 grottoes stretch from south to north on the eastern slope of Rattling Sand Mountain (Mingshashan) and are divided into five levels. They contain 45,000 square meters of murals 2,415 painted statues, and five wooden structures. The statues were all made of clay and colored with paint. Themes of the murals range fro Buddha portraits and Buddhist stories to fairy tales and pictures of worshippers.

The Mogao Grottoes were cut during a period of more than a thousand years from the fourth century century to the fourteenth century A.D. Their discovery at the beginning of the century, after several hundred years of oblivion, caused a sensation throughout the world.

The colored paintings of the Mogao Grottoes feature hold lines, bright colors, and superb composition. Those made during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) are particularly brilliant.

A large number of historical documents dating from the Middle Ages were also discovered in a cave where Buhhdist scriptures were stored. The study of these valuable materials, along with paintings and statues, has become a subject of worldwide research.

Ruins of Yangguan

This ancient city seventy kilometers west of Dunhuang County town used to be a pass on the southern route of the Silk Route. A large number of cultural relics dating to the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 220) have been unearthed among the ruins of the old city. To the east of Yangguan lie the remains of Shouchang City, and to the north is a well-preserved ole beacon tower on Dundun Hill. Outside of these ruins there is nothing but desert with few human traces. No wonder Wang Wei (701-761), a poet of the Tang Dynasty wrote: “Drink another cup of wine , I bid you; For no dear ones shall you see outside of Yangguan.”

Yumen Pass

Situated in the Gobi Desert eighty kilometers northwest of Dunhuang County town, this was a pass on the northern route of the Silk Road. The remaining building is a well-preserved square structure, 24 meters from east to west, 26.4 meters from north to south, and 9.8 meters high. It was built with yellow mud bricks. The desert outside Yumen Pass bears few traces of human activity. It was so desolate that Wang Zhihuan (688-742), a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote, “Even the spring breeze cannot get through Yumen Pass.”

Jiayu Pass

Jiayu Pass stands in the southwest section of the city of Jiayuguan in Gabsy Province. The snow-covered Qilian Mountains spread for hundreds of miles to the south, and the Dragon’s Head (Longshou) and the Horse’s Mane (Mazong) mountains rise to its north. The walls on both sides of the pass extend across the desert to join the mountains. It was a strategic passageway on the route to the western regions (west of China’s Yumen Pass, including what is today’s Xinjiang and Central Asia).

The existing building was constructed in 1372. It is a square structure with a circumference of 733 meters, divided into outer and inner sections. The outer wall was built with mud except for the western section, which was made of bricks. The double walls indicate the important strategic position of this pass.

Jiayu Pass is the western starting point of the existing Great Wall, which then crosses deserts and follows mountain ridges for more than five thousand kilometers until it reaches the sea coast in eastern Liaoning Province.

Visitors may go to Jiayu Pass by either plane or train from Lanzhou and stay at the local hotels.

Dunhuang Hotels