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Dunhuang aka: 敦煌
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Dunhuang was featured on the Geo Quiz on NPR/BBC News’s The World. Below is a quote from the show:
a Chinese town at the eastern end of the ancient Silk Road. It marks the spot where East meets West. Where Buddhism entered China 1,500 years ago. Today, the town is most famous for its cave complex carved into a mile-long stretch of rock.
Its subterranean temples are chock full of treasure: ancient paintings, sculptures, and scriptures. Most of the artifacts date back to the 5th century, but they weren’t discovered until the late 1800’s. Some were taken away to be exhibited in museums around the world. Those that remain are considered national treasures of China. Today, it’s tourists, not traders who flock to this ancient rest stop on the Silk Road.
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Dunhuang was made a prefecture in 117 BC by Emperor Han Wudi, and was a major point of interchange between China and the outside world during the Han and Tang dynasties. Located near the historic junction of the Northern and Southern Silk Roads, it was a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunhuang
Related Articles
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Along the Silk Road, China Begins to Guard Its Heritage
July 15, 2004
(read article)
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Introduction to Dunhuang
November 20, 2006
Dunhuáng 's name (blazing beacon) derives from its function as a Hàn Chinese garrison town, but the Táng name of Sha Zhou (sand district) describes it better, hemmed in by sand dunes and bleak, pebbly desert. The middle and southern Silk Routes set off from Dunhuáng, passing through the remote garrison town of Lóulán (abandoned when Lop Nor Lake "wandered off" in the 4th c.) and through the Lop Desert. A large number of the early residents of Dunhuáng were not Hàn, and the town came under the sway of the Tibetans, the Uighurs, and the Xi Xià, only really becoming a Hàn town after the colonization of the western regions was initiated during the Qing dynasty. The town is dependent on tourism, and despite efforts to develop other sites, it is the peerless Mògao cave-temple complex which makes Dunhuáng the essential stop on the Silk Routes.
(read article)
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Along the Silk Road, China Begins to Guard Its Heritage
(read article)
