Around 5,000 people attended the first day of the Special Exhibition of Dunhuang on April 1, a record number of visitors for the museum. Some visitors booked tickets days before the show began, while other anxious "early birds" lined up outside the museum before it opened, eager to catch first sight of the show.

Visitors have also been keen to buy Dunhuang souvenirs, including miniature sculptures, brochures, VCDs and memorial envelopes.

"The Special Exhibition of Dunhuang is the largest and finest of its kind held at home or abroad," said Luo Huaqing, director of Dunhuang Research Institute, the main organizer of the exhibition.

The show displays reproductions of five caves made by the institute, which contain frescoes, statues of Buddhas and protective warriors. Together with the copies, a number of real works are on show for the first time, including 10 Buddhist sutras and 20 pieces of patterned panels used to cover the ground of the grottoes. In addition, more than 100 historical pictures document how the treasures of Dunhuang were plundered in the past.

The people of Guangzhou are able to share this world cultural heritage in the Guangdong Museum of Art until June 3.

Luo said the exhibition allows people to make an easy pilgrimage to the art of Dunhuang, a legacy of Chinese and Western cultural exchange on the Silk Road.

Located at the intersection of two trade routes, Dunhuang flourished as the traffic of horse and camel caravans carried new thoughts, ideas, art forms, and sciences between the East and West.

Between the fourth and 14th centuries, over 1,000 caves were carved, of which 492 remain today.

Known as the Mogao Grottoes, they consist of sculptures, paintings, and various artworks. The grottoes are believed to date back 1,630 years.

Inside the Mogao Grottoes are Buddhist statues, carvings, gilt and colored frescoes, murals, and wall paintings. Among the surviving documents are musical scores, choreographic records, and astronomy and medical literature.

Most of the Dunhuang treasures were stolen or destroyed by Western invaders during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Fortunately, dedicated preservation experts have worked hard to preserve the remaining treasures.

The exhibition is made up of meticulous duplications of murals and scrolls, which were hand painted by artists over the last 60 years. Many scholars stress that the copies alone are precious treasures. The copies, bearing clearer lines and sharper colors than the frescoes, allow visitors and researchers to better appreciate the importance of the Mogao Grottoes.

(China Daily 04/11/2001