A dedication to caves, in the name of the father

In ancient times when creating murals on the walls in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu province, artists depicted not only stories and images from Buddhist classics, but also of the caves' financial backers, the likes of which can be seen on the passage walls of caves 9, 61, 130 and 196.

Fifty-nine kilometers from the Mogao Grottoes and 3 kilometers from the Western Thousand-Buddha Cave, those living today are given the chance to have their likeness portrayed on the walls of Dunhuang Modern Grottoes.

Two years after Chang Shuhong, founder of Dunhuang Academy, died in 1994, his wife Li Chengxian and his son Chang Jiahuang started opening modern caves not far from the Mogao Grottoes, in accordance with the father's will. In doing so they used money they had saved and collected over the years.