Historic city · Cultural centre · Scenic area · Gansu
Dunhuang
敦煌
Oasis of the Mogao Caves at the western end of the Hexi Corridor
Dunhuang is a county-level city under Jiuquan at the far western end of Gansu, an oasis where the northern and southern Silk Roads divided before crossing the desert. Its Mogao Caves hold a thousand years of Buddhist murals and sculpture, and the Library Cave found there in 1900 yielded tens of thousands of manuscripts, including the oldest dated printed book.
Key facts
Overview
Dunhuang lies on the Danghe River between the dunes of Mingsha Shan and the gravel Gobi. From here travellers took the Yumen Pass north-west towards Hami and Turpan, or the Yang Pass south-west along the Kunlun towards Khotan. Merchants, monks, soldiers and envoys passed through, and local patrons paid for the painted cave temples in the cliff at Mogao, south-east of the town.
The modern city is small and devoted largely to tourism and to the study and conservation of the caves by the Dunhuang Academy.
Names and nicknames
沙州
“Sand Prefecture”
The name of the prefecture in the Tang and later periods.
敦煌学
“Dunhuang studies”
Not a nickname but a field: the international scholarship that grew out of the Library Cave manuscripts.
History
The Han founded Dunhuang commandery in the late second century BCE and built walls, beacon towers and garrisons towards the Yumen Pass. Cave-cutting at Mogao began in 366 and continued into the Yuan dynasty. From 786 to 848 the town was under Tibetan rule; afterwards the Guiyi Army of the Zhang and Cao families governed it as a semi-independent state for nearly two centuries. The Library Cave was sealed around the early eleventh century and forgotten until 1900. Aurel Stein in 1907 and Paul Pelliot in 1908 removed large parts of its contents, which are now in London, Paris and other collections.
111 BCE
Dunhuang commandery
The westernmost of the four Han commanderies of the Hexi Corridor.
366
First caves at Mogao
A Tang-period inscription records that the monk Yuezun cut the first cave after a vision of a thousand Buddhas.
848
Zhang Yichao expels the Tibetan garrison
Founded the Guiyi Army regime that ruled Dunhuang under nominal Tang authority.
868
The Dunhuang Diamond Sutra
A woodblock-printed scroll dated to 868, found in the Library Cave, is the oldest complete dated printed book; it is in the British Library.
1900
Library Cave discovered
Wang Yuanlu, a Daoist caretaker, opened the sealed chamber, now numbered Cave 17, off the passage of Cave 16.
1944
Dunhuang Art Research Institute
Founded under Chang Shuhong; it became the Dunhuang Academy, which conserves and studies the caves.
1987
UNESCO World Heritage inscription
The Mogao Caves were among China's first World Heritage sites.
Landmarks
Temple or shrine
Mogao Caves
莫高窟
Hundreds of cave temples in a cliff above the Daquan river, with the nine-storey facade of the Big Buddha cave as their landmark.
Nature
Mingsha Shan and Crescent Lake
鸣沙山·月牙泉
“Singing sand” dunes on the southern edge of town enclosing a spring-fed, crescent-shaped pool.
Historic site
Yumen Pass
玉门关
The square earthen fort of the Jade Gate in the desert north-west of town; a Silk Roads World Heritage component.
Historic site
Yang Pass
阳关
Site of the southern Han pass, with a beacon tower on a ridge above the oasis.
Museum
Dunhuang Museum
敦煌博物馆
Local history from Han wooden slips to Silk Road trade.
Neighbourhoods
Shazhou night market
沙州夜市
Evening market in the town centre with food stalls and craft shops.
Danghe riverside
党河风情线
Riverside walks along the western edge of the centre.
Food
Donkey meat with yellow noodles
驴肉黄面
Cold sliced braised donkey meat served with thin alkaline noodles, the signature dish of the town.
Apricot drink
杏皮水
A chilled drink brewed from dried apricots, drunk in the summer heat.
Culture
The caves have made Dunhuang a byword for Buddhist art and for cultural exchange between China, India, Iran and Central Asia. The flying apsaras (飞天, fēitiān) of the murals have become a national cultural symbol, and the “Dunhuang dance” developed from the murals is taught in Chinese dance academies.
Getting around
- Dunhuang station has direct trains from Lanzhou and Jiayuguan; the Lanzhou–Xinjiang high-speed line stops at Liuyuan to the north.
- Dunhuang Mogao International Airport lies east of the town.
- The Mogao Caves are reached from the visitor centre by shuttle; the Yumen and Yang passes lie out in the desert and require a car.
Day trips
Yulin Caves
榆林窟
Cave temples in a canyon in Guazhou county, with outstanding Western Xia murals.
Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark
敦煌雅丹国家地质公园
Wind-sculpted clay ridges beyond the Yumen Pass, known as the “devil's city”.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Dunhuang Municipal People's Government — Dunhuang Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Mogao Caves — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Dunhuang — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
More cities in Gansu
- Lanzhou兰州Capital · Historic city · Industrial centreYellow River city at the head of the Silk Road
- Jiayuguan嘉峪关Historic city · Industrial centreThe western end of the Ming Great Wall
- Tianshui天水Historic city · Cultural centreFuxi's city and the Maijishan grottoes
- Zhangye张掖Historic city · Scenic areaOasis of Ganzhou, the Giant Buddha and the Danxia hills
- Wuwei武威Historic cityLiangzhou, city of the bronze galloping horse
Related
Philosophy
Chinese Buddhism →
Art Form
Chinese Painting →
Chinese painting emphasizes capturing the spirit and essence of subjects rather than photographic representation. Using brush, ink, and water on silk…
Dynasty
Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) →
The Tang dynasty (618-907 CE) was the imperial dynasty founded by Li Yuan that ruled China for nearly three centuries from Chang'an, then the largest…