Dunhuang 敦煌市

Setting and landscape

Oasis land makes up only about 7 per cent of the city's area. Sanwei Mountain (三危山) rises to the east and the Mingsha dunes (鸣沙山) to the south; desert running on to the Taklamakan lies west, and gobi reaching the last spurs of the Tian Shan lies north. The oasis is fed by the Dang River (党河), which rises in the Qilian Mountains and runs 390 kilometres. The city government records 42.2 millimetres of rain a year against evaporation of 2,505 millimetres, a typical warm-temperate arid climate.

History

The name first appears in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian; the Eastern Han scholar Ying Shao read it as "great and glorious". Emperor Wu of Han set up Dunhuang Commandery in 111 BC, after campaigns pushed the Xiongnu out of the Hexi region. In AD 366 the monk Yuezun (乐僔) began work on the Mogao Caves, and in 400 Li Gao (李暠) founded the Western Liang state with Dunhuang as its first capital. The area fell to Tibet around 781; in 848 Zhang Yichao (张议潮) led a rising that returned it to the Tang, and the Guiyi Army period lasted until the Western Xia took it in 1036. After the Ming closed the Jiayu Pass in 1528, the area had no administration for two centuries. It became Dunhuang County in 1760 and a city in 1987.

What to see

The city government counts three World Heritage sites: the Mogao Caves, inscribed by UNESCO in 1987, the Yumen Pass site and the Xuanquanzhi (悬泉置) post-station site. The Great Wall within Dunhuang is also a national key protected site. Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring (鸣沙山月牙泉), south of the city, is a 5A scenic area and a world geopark; the sand is said to rumble when crowds slide down it. The Western Thousand Buddha Caves (西千佛洞) lie south-west of Mogao, and the Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark (敦煌雅丹国家地质公园) is on the national geopark list.

Food and local products

A local saying, the "Eight oddities of Dunhuang" (敦煌八大怪), names among them donkey meat with yellow noodles (驴肉黄面), jiangshui noodles (浆水面) eaten to beat the heat, fragrant pears (香水梨) sold only once they have turned black, pao'er yougao (泡儿油糕) pastries, suoyang (锁阳, cynomorium) and Luobuma tea (罗布麻茶). Nationally listed intangible heritage is Dunhuang quzi opera (敦煌曲子戏); Dunhuang folk song, painted clay sculpture and paper-cutting are on the provincial list.

Highlights

• Mogao Caves 莫高窟: Begun by the monk Yuezun in 366; inscribed by UNESCO in 1987.
• Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring 鸣沙山月牙泉: 5A scenic area and world geopark south of the city.
• Yumen Pass 玉门关遗址: Han pass site counted by the city among its three World Heritage sites.
• Xuanquanzhi 悬泉置遗址: Post-station site of the Han and Jin periods; World Heritage.
• Dunhuang quzi opera 敦煌曲子戏: The city's national-level intangible heritage item.
• Donkey meat with yellow noodles 驴肉黄面: Named in the local Eight oddities saying.