Dunhuang

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Dunhuang

Dunhuang (also written as ?? until the early Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, followed the Ming Dynasty in History of China, and was the last ruling Chinese Dynasties of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 ....
; ) is a city

City

A city is an urban area with a high population density and a particular administrative, legal, or historical status.Large industrialized cities generally have advanced systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, house, and transportation and more....
(pop. ~150,000) in Jiuquan

Jiuquan

Jiuquan is a "prefecture-level city" in the westernmost part of the Gansu province in China.The entire "prefecture-level city" stretches for more than 500 km from east to west, occupying 191,342 km?; its population as of 2002 was 962,000....
, Gansu

Gansu

or , is a political divisions of China located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Loess Plateau, and borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west....
province, China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. It is sited in an oasis

Oasis

In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even humans if the area is big enough....
.
uang was made a prefecture in 117 BC by Emperor Han Wudi, and was a major point of interchange between ancient China and Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
during the Han

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The Han Dynasty was ruled by the family known as the Liu clan who had peasant origins....
and Tang

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an Dynasties in Chinese history preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire....
dynasties.

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Encyclopedia

Dunhuang (also written as ?? until the early Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

City

Jiuquan

Gansu

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. It is sited in an oasis

Oasis

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

Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
during the Han

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The Han Dynasty was ruled by the family known as the Liu clan who had peasant origins....
and Tang

Tang Dynasty

Northern Silk Road

The Northern Silk Road is a prehistoric trackway in northern China originating in the early capital of Xi'an and extending north of the Taklamakan Desert to reach the ancient monarchys of Parthia, Bactria and eventually Persia and Rome....
and Southern Silk Road

Silk Road

The Silk Road is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, including North Africa and Europe....
s, it was a town of military importance. Its name is mentioned as part of the homeland of the Yuezhi

Yuezhi

The Yuezhi or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people.They are believed by most scholars to have been an Indo-European people, and may have been the same as or closely related to the Tocharians of Classical sources....
or "Rouzhi" in the Shiji, but this mention has also been identified with an unrelated toponym, Dunhong

Dunhong

The Dunhong mountain according to the Shanhaijing is a mountain of the Tian Shan range. Lin Meicun identifies it with the Dunhuang of the Shiji by Sima Qian which states that:...
. Edges of the city are threatened with being engulfed by the expansion of the Kumtag Desert

Kumtag Desert

The Kumtag Desert is an arid landform in northern China, which has been proclaimed as a national park in the year 2002.The Kumtag Desert is expanding and threatening to engulf previously productive lands with its arid wasteland character....
, which is resulting from longstanding overgrazing

Overgrazing

Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to livestock grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It reduces the usefulness of the land and is one cause of desertification and erosion....
of surrounding lands.

Early Buddhist monk

Monk

A Monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, the unconditioning of mind and body in favor of the realization of one's true nature, and does so living either alone or with any number of like-minded people, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose....
s 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

Xi'an

Xi'an , is the Capital of the Shaanxi Provinces of China in the People's Republic of China and a sub-provincial city. As one of the oldest cities in Chinese history, Xi'an is one of the Historical capitals of China because it has been the capital of some of the most important Dynasties in Chinese history in Chinese history, including the Zh...
to the west over the Wushao Ling Pass to Wuwei

Wuwei

Wuwei is located in northwest central Gansu province. In the north it borders Inner Mongolia, in the southwest, Qinghai. Its central location between three western capitals, Lanzhou, Xining, and Yinchuan makes it an important business and transportation hub for the area....
and emerging in Kashgar

Kashgar

Kashgar or Kashi ...
. For centuries Buddhist monks at Dunhuang collected scriptures from the west, and many pilgrims passed through the area, painting murals inside the Mogao Caves

Mogao Caves

The Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes form a system of 492 temples 25 km southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China....
or "Caves of a Thousand Buddhas." A small number of Christian artifacts have also been found in the caves (see Jesus Sutras

Jesus Sutras

The Jesus Sutras, or the Lost Sutras of Jesus are early Chinese language manuscripts of Christian teachings brought to China during the 7th century by Alopen, a Nestorian bishop of the Assyrian Church of the East....
), 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 manuscript

Manuscript

A manuscript is any document that is written by hand, as opposed to being printed or reproduced in some other way. The term may also be used for information that is hand-recorded in other ways than writing, for example inscriptions that are chiselled upon a hard material or scratched as with a knife point in plaster or with a stylus on a wa...
s and artifact

Artifact

Artifact or artefact may refer to:* Artifact , any object made or modified by a human culture, and later recovered by an archaeological endeavor...
s retrieved at Dunhuang have been digitized and made publicly available via the .

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

Mogao Caves

Night market

Night markets or night bazaars are street markets operating at night that are generally dedicated to more leisurely strolling, shopping, and eating than more businesslike day markets....
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 Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
n dessert or sweet is also sold, consisting of a large, sweet confection made with nut

Nut (fruit)

Nut is a general term for the large, dry, oily seed or fruit of some plant. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts....
s and dried fruit

Dried fruit

Dried fruitis fruit that has been drying , either naturally or through use of a machine, such as a food dehydrator. Raisins, prunes, and Date palm are examples of popular dried fruits....
, sliced into the portion desired by the customer.

Nearby attractions

Other neighboring attractions include:

Crescent Lake
Echoing-Sand Mountain (Mingsha Shan, ???)

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 sled

Sled

A sled, sledge or sleigh is a vehicle with runners for sliding instead of wheels for rolling. It is used for transport on surfaces with low friction, usually snow or ice but any grassy surface is good when it is not too dry....
s down the sand slopes, much like snow

Snow

Snow is a type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. The process of this precipitation is called snowfall....
-sledding

Sledding

Sledding is a common activity in wintry areas, similar to sliding, but in a prone or seated position requiring a device or vehicle generically known as a "sled"....
during winter in temperate zones. Along the side of the Crescent Lake is a pagoda

Pagoda

A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia....
in traditional Han Chinese

Han Chinese

Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and, by most modern definitions, the largest single ethnic group in the Earth.Han Chinese constitute about 92 percent of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98 percent of the population of the Republic of China , 75 percent of the population of Singapore, and about 19 percent...
architecture

Chinese architecture

Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in Asia over many centuries. The structural principles of China architecture have remained largely unchanged, the main changes being only the decorative details....
.

Transportation

East of the city, with rides to Urumqi, Lanzhou, Xian, and Beijing. Taxis are available in the town. The nearest train station is at Liuyuan, about 130 km to the North-East.

Trivia

A crater on Mars

MARS

In cryptography, MARS is a block cipher that was IBM's submission to the Advanced Encryption Standard process. MARS was selected as an AES finalist in August 1999, after the AES2 conference in March 1999, where it was voted as the fifth and last finalist algorithm....
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.

External links

(includes tens of thousands of digitised manuscripts and paintings from Dunhuang, along with historical photographs and archival material)
China Travel Guide - Dunhuang