A colourful range of local agricultural and handicraft products are available at markets and shops around the town and make good souvenirs and curiosities.

Agricultural products

A number of shops along Western Road sell dried fruits such as grapes and dates and other produce such as wine and tea. However the same products can often be bought cheaper in local supermarkets.

Grapes: Dunhuang yields upwards of 3800 tons of grapes a year. The grapes are sweet and delicious. They can also be bought at vineries around Yangguan.

Dried apricots: Another famed local product, apricots are resistant to the cold and grow well in the dry climate of Dunhuang.

Dates: Grown on Ming Mountain in Dunhuang, the local dates are large, at about 40-50g, and the meat is tasty and sweet .

Jujubes: In Dunuhuang, jujubes are placed in a jar, sterilised with spirits and eaten in autum and winter.

Elm flowers: Dunhuang people are acccustomed to eating elm flowers, which are in blossom every spring. The locals pick the flowers, wash them clean, then mix them with flour and steam them.

Xiangshui Pear: Xiangshui pears are a traditional Dunhuang delicacy that have been cultivated for a long time. The pears are stored until winter when the frozen fruit turns black.When thawed out to eat, the soft and juicy pears have a delicious sweet and sour taste.

Craft products

A good place to look for local artistic creations is Commercial Street which during the daytime hosts a crafts market. Here, as well as in permanent stores along the street, you will find celebrated Dunhuang products like Dunhuang Luminous Cups, carved gourds, strange stones, decorated fans and cuddly camels.

Dunhuang Luminous Cups: The cups are first mentioned in Records of Ten Famous Places All Over The World written by Dong Fangshuo during the Western Han dynasty.Tang Dynasty poet Wang Han also eulogised ‘grape wine with luminous cup.’ The cups are made from high quality ink jade from the Qilian mountains.

Mural and statue copies: These can be purchased at bookstores along Commercial Street, markets around town, at the Mogao Caves bookshop, or at studios in the artists’ village. A colony of artists such as Zhang Daqian, Hang Shuhong and Dong Xiwen are at work in Dunhuang creating the reproduction murals.

Strange Stones: Fascination with strangely and suggestively shaped stones is a keystone of Chinese culture that goes back at least to the Song dynasty.Dunhuang strange stones are rocks that are natural without any carvings at all. The stones are treasured for their visual beauty and analogic suggestiveness.

Treasures of the Study: A number of antique and bookstores along the night market street sell calligraphies, paintings, the ‘four treasures of the study’ (writing brush, inkstick, inkstone and paper), jade ware, jewelry, porcelain, copper ware, root carvings, old coins, and stamps.

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