Dunhuang

Location of Dunhuang

Dunhuang (Chinese: 敦煌, also written as 燉煌 until the early Qing Dynasty; pinyin: Dūnhuáng) is a city (pop. ~150,000) in Jiuquan, Gansu province, China. It is sited in an oasis.

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Tang Period Buddhist sutra fragment from Dunhuang

History

Dunhuang was made a prefecture in 117 BC by Emperor Han Wudi, and was a major point of interchange between ancient China and Central Asia during the Han and Tang dynasties. Located near the historic junction of the Northern and Southern Silk Roads, it was a town of military importance. Its name is mentioned as part of the homeland of the Yuezhi or "Rouzhi" (月氏) in the Shiji (史記), but this mention has also been identified with an unrelated toponym, Dunhong. Edges of the city are threatened with being engulfed by the expansion of the Kumtag Desert, which is resulting from longstanding overgrazing of surrounding lands. Dunhuang is safe place for traders to cross.

Early Buddhist monks accessed Dunhuang via the ancient Northern Silk Road, the northernmost route of about 2600 kilometres in length, which connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an to the west over the Wushao Ling Pass to Wuwei and emerging in Kashgar. For centuries Buddhist monks at Dunhuang collected scriptures from the west, and many pilgrims passed through the area, painting murals inside the Mogao Caves or "Caves of a Thousand Buddhas." A small number of Christian artifacts have also been found in the caves (see Jesus Sutras), testimony to the wide variety of people who made their way along the silk road. Today, the site is an important tourist attraction and the subject of an ongoing archaeological project. A large number of manuscripts and artifacts retrieved at Dunhuang have been digitized and made publicly available via the International Dunhuang Project.

Sand dunes on the edge of Dunhuang

Public art in Dunhuang

The Mingsha Shan dune overlooking Dunhuang

Dunhuang city centre

Dunhuang's city centre is relatively highly developed, including much commercial activity and many hotels. Bookshops and other souvenir shops sell materials relating to the Caves and the history of the region.

A night market is held in the city centre, popular with tourists. Many souvenir items are sold, including such typical items as jade, jewelry, scrolls, hangings, small sculptures, and the like. A sizable number of members of China's ethnic minorities engage in business at these markets. A Central Asian dessert or sweet is also sold, consisting of a large, sweet confection made with nuts and dried fruit, sliced into the portion desired by the customer.

Nearby attractions

Other neighboring attractions include:

• Crescent Lake
• Echoing-Sand Mountain (Mingsha Shan, 鸣沙山)

These attractions are essentially part of the same area. The Crescent Lake is within the Sand-Mountain. This lake is apparently an oasis surrounded by the highly sandy area composed of high dunes. The Mingsha Shan is so named for the sound of the wind whipping off the dunes. The area is very popular with tourists, the great majority of them Chinese. A street lined with souvenir stalls leads up to the entrance to the complex. Most tourists ride camels, organized by the complex operators, to reach the sand dunes. Typically the camels are guided by a local camel guide, who include both women and men. At the dunes, a popular activity for tourists is to ride sleds down the sand slopes, much like snow-sledding during winter in temperate zones. Along the side of the Crescent Lake is a pagoda in traditional Han Chinese architecture.

• Mogao Caves

Transportation

East of the city, with rides to Urumqi, Lanzhou, Xian, and Beijing. Taxis are available in the town. Dunhuang got its own train station on Mar. 3, 2006. Its new train station is about 2 km to the city.

Trivia

A crater on Mars was named after the city.

The late German electronic music composer Rudiger Lorenz wrote a track entitled "Dunhuang" on his 1995 release "Taklamakan" (referring to the Chinese desert). The music sonically portrays the ancient nobility of the city.

References

• Baumer, Christoph. 2000. Southern Silk Road: In the Footsteps of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin. White Orchid Books. Bangkok.
• Beal, Samuel. 1884. Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, by Hiuen Tsiang. 2 vols. Trans. by Samuel Beal. London. Reprint: Delhi. Oriental Books Reprint Corporation. 1969.
• Beal, Samuel. 1911. The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang by the Shaman Hwui Li, with an Introduction containing an account of the Works of I-Tsing. Trans. by Samuel Beal. London. 1911. Reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi. 1973.
• Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition.[1]
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [2]
• Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. E. J. Brill, Leiden.
• Legge, James. Trans. and ed. 1886. A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: being an account by the Chinese monk Fâ-hsien of his travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline. Reprint: Dover Publications, New York. 1965.
• Stein, Aurel M. 1907. Ancient Khotan: Detailed report of archaeological explorations in Chinese Turkestan, 2 vols. Clarendon Press. Oxford. [3]
• Stein, Aurel M. 1921. Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China, 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980. [4]
• Watson, Burton (1993). Records of the Grand Historian of China. Han Dynasty II. (Revised Edition). New York, Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08167-7
• Watters, Thomas (1904-1905). On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India. London. Royal Asiatic Society. Reprint: 1973.

External links

• Crescent Lake
• Echoing-Sand Mountain
• The International Dunhuang Project (includes tens of thousands of digitised manuscripts and paintings from Dunhuang, along with historical photographs and archival material)
• Christian art on silk from Dunhuang
• Dunhuang Collection at the British Museum
• Dunhuang Mogao Grotto
• China Travel Guide - Dunhuang
• Dunhuang Attractions List