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 Located
25km (16 miles) outside Dunhuang, a city in West Gansu, the Mogao
Caves are the best example of Buddhist cave art to be found in China.
There are almost 500 caves, decorated with 45,000 sq meters of frescoes
and over 2,000 painted statues carved into the east side of Mingsha
Hill.
Legend has it
that the cave art was initiated by a monk on a pilgrimage to India
in 366AD. It is said that he saw rays of light sparkling in the
cliffs, which inspired him to carve a cave to honor Buddha. Subsequently
other pilgrims stopped and added their artistic contributions by
carving and decorating caves and niches in part as tribute to Buddha
and to ensure their own safe journey.
Artistic styles
from the Jin dynasty (265-420AD) to the Tang dynasty (618-907AD)
can be seen in the caves. The paintings from the Tang era feature
many asparas (flying angels) which are a famous characteristic of
Dunhuang cave art.
In 1900, a cave
containing 50,000 religious and historical manuscripts was found
at Dunhuang. It is believed that the texts were hidden by Buddhist
monks during the 11th century. The texts included rare and ancient
works in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Uighur, Chinese and other languages.
Over the next 2 decades most of the library was stolen or purchased
by adventurers and archaeologists and the Dunhuang Books have been
scattered worldwide.
In 1987 the
Mogao Caves were listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
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Regarded
as the outer limit of civilization since it was first brought
under Chinese control in the Qin Dynasty (BC 221-206), Gansu province
forms a natural corridor between Mongolia's Gobi Desert to the
north and the Qilian Mountains of the Tibetan plateau to the south
and west.
The
lake is 6 kilometers (3.73 miles) south of the center of Dunhuang
nearby the Echoing-Sand Mountain, where the oasis meets the desert.
Spring water trickles up into a depression between huge sand dunes,
forming a crescent-shaped pond (not to be confused with the concrete
storage pool nearby).