Duhuang’s special signifiance in the story of humanity lies in its position as a cosmopolitan hub where the four major cultural systems of China, India, Greece and India met and collided.

A unique culture, open, outward looking and cosmopolitan culture was forged whose legacy makes this city on the edge of the Gobi desert an important site for understanding the ancient world. The Mogao Caves murals are a priceless record of religious faith, dynastic history and everyday life which show an assimilation of cultures and artistic styles from both the Chinese Central Plains and the Western Regions.

During the peak of Mogao Cave art during the Tang (618-906) dynasty, great masterpieces like the Western Pure Land illustration on the south wall of Cave 220 were created. Meanwhle the 45,000 documents in Chinese, Tibetan and many other languages found in the Library Cave make Dunhuang a centre of international scholarship about ancient eastern cultures.

Dunhuang also offers an important window onto the Han dynasty (206BCE-220CE.)

No fewer than 82% of known document slips dating from this reign were found preserved in the sands of the northwest of China, with Dunhuang accounting for the largest number of these. The more than 32,000 slips uncovered at the ancient post station of Xuanquanzhi include the earliest examples of paper with writing.

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