Mogao Caves

Tradition holds that in 366 a monk named Le Zun saw a vision of a thousand golden Buddhas at the cliff and carved the first meditation cave. Over the following thousand years, monks, merchants and local rulers sponsored new caves, with the most intensive building between the 5th and 14th centuries. UNESCO records 492 caves arranged on several levels, around 45,000 square metres of murals and more than 2,000 painted sculptures.

In 1900 a Daoist caretaker uncovered the sealed Library Cave, packed with tens of thousands of manuscripts and paintings, which were later dispersed to collections around the world. The site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1987, meeting all six of UNESCO's cultural criteria. The Dunhuang Academy, which grew from a research institute founded at the site in 1944, now manages conservation and has pioneered digital recording of the caves.

Dunhuang remains an oasis town shaped by the desert, with markets selling dried fruit, apricots and local crafts. Images from the cave murals, especially the flying apsaras, appear everywhere from street decorations to dance performances, and the caves are a source of strong local pride. The region's historic links with the Silk Road mean Hui Muslim communities and halal restaurants are part of everyday life in Gansu.