Dunhuang, city at crossroads
Dunhuang is a city in northwestern Gansu province.
It was a major stopover on the ancient Silk Road after the military forces of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) took control of the Hexi Corridor in today's Gansu province and began to develop trade with countries in Central Asia and beyond.
Along with traders, Buddhism - a religion from India - came to Dunhuang in the 1st century AD. As a sizable Buddhist community developed there in the following years, monks carved out caves for meditation. They left a great number of cultural and artistic legacies such as murals, statues and Buddhist manuscripts.
To take in such legacies, people can visit the most famous site, the Mogao Caves, or Thousand Buddha Grottoes. Today the site is also an important tourist attraction.
To facilitate cultural and business exchanges in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, the city has hosted three sessions of the Silk Road International Cultural Expo, with the latest held on Sept 27-28.
(China Daily 10/12/2018 page12)
