Dunhuang "Blazing Beacon"— Where the World's Four Great Civilizations Met
Jixian Lin, a famous Chinese writer once described Dunhuang in this way: “In the world, there are only four cultural systems with a long history, independent systems, and far-reaching influence: China, India, Greece, and Islam. And there is only one place to gather these four cultural systems — that is Dunhuang”.
Located in the far northwest of Gansu, Dunhuang is famous for its grottoes and frescoes. It is a famous city of historic and cultural interests. Its long history has bequeathed its unique culture.
Yardang National Geopark 雅丹国家地质公园
Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark 敦煌雅丹国家地质公园 is a national park in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China, that shows the Yardang geological feature of the area. Yardang has been created over time by the soft part of the earth's surface being eroded by wind and rain, with the hard part of the rocks remaining in the desert.
The unique rock formations in the park developed over a period of 700,000 years. The Yardang geomorphic formations found in the Dunhuang Yadan National Geopark are the largest in China.
The Small Fangpan Castle at Yumen Pass 玉门关小方盘城
Yumen Pass (literally Jade Gate Pass), built in Western Han Dynasty, is the one of the two passes to the western regions in ancient China and the only gateway for the North Silk Road Route. It is the best-preserved huge pass on the former trade route, which was listed as UNESCO Cultural Site with related Silk Road sections in 2014.
It was a crucial pass along the western border built in the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), located at the west end of Hexi Corridor, the gateway to the western regions from central China. The pass was built from rammed yellow earth and has two gates, the west gate and the north gate, with the latter one being the main entrance.
Dunhuang “Blazing Beacon” 敦煌灯塔
The name Dunhuang, meaning "Blazing Beacon", refers to the beacons lit to warn of attacks by marauding nomadic tribes. Dunhuang Commandery was probably established shortly after 104 BC. Located in the western end of the Hexi Corridor near the historic junction of the Northern and Southern Silk Roads, Dunhuang was a town of military importance.
鳴沙山 “The Singing Sand Dunes”
The Singing Sand Dunes 鳴沙山 Ming Sha Shan in Dunhuang, China, are the sand dunes that, when the wind blows, give out a singing or drumming sound. They are part of the Kumtag Desert.
The Singing Sand Dunes were originally known as the "Gods' Sand Dunes" 神沙山. In the Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian described the sound "as if listening to music when the weather is fine." During the Ming Dynasty, they came to be called by the current name.
Tina had no idea Xiao was about to propose to her
We met Tina and Xiao as we were getting ready to ride the camels. We asked him to take photos of us and we would take photos of them and we would exchange our email address. Well as we rode along, we thought we heard them speak Shanghinese. So we asked and sure enough they were from Shanghai. What a delight it was.
When we climbed to the top of dune, I noticed that there was a heart-shape on the sand and a tripod with camera leaning. My first reaction was how romantic. Little did we all know that Xiao was about to propose to Tina.
As soon as I saw what was happening I took hundreds of photos and tried to video tape it as well. Tina just kept on screaming. We kept saying, "Say Yes!"
The photo of us in the restaurant in Dunhuang was later that evening. We were utterly surprised to have been invited to their wedding as their guest of honor. We have become close and we're so thankful.
Caves of the Thousand Buddhas 千佛洞
The caves are commonly referred to in Chinese as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas a name that some scholars have speculated to have come from the legend of its founding, when a monk, Yuezun, had a vision of a thousand Buddhas at the site.
In the West there is the Louvre; in the East there are the Mogao Caves.” The Mogao Grottoes is the largest and most abundant Buddhist art area in the world. It is praised as an "art museum in the desert". The Mogao Caves are famous for their exquisite murals and Buddhist statues. Artists from different periods of the Middle Ages left their work there. All kinds of works spanning over one thousand years complement each other.
These caves are carved out of the sandstone cliffs. The 1,600 meters (1 mile) of grottoes were constructed during 10 dynasties from the 4th to the 14th century. The Mogao Caves' 45,000 square meters (480,000 square feet) of mural paintings and more than 2,000 colored statues are regarded as the greatest treasures of Buddhist art to exist in the world.
悬壁长城 Overhanging Great Wall
The Overhanging Great Wall, was built on a steeply sloping valley mouth. When viewed from afar, the wall looks like a magnificent painting hanging over the cliff, which is how it got its name. Because it is very similar in appearance to the Great Wall at Badaling, it is also known as "Western Badaling".
The magnificent Suspended Great Wall, completed by Gansu Patrol Commander Li Han in the 19th year of the Emperor Jiajing's reign (1540) during the Ming Dynasty, defends the northern entrance to Black Mountain Valley. The Hanging Wall was built on a ridge with a gradient of 45 degrees, and it was made of tamped local gravel and yellow earth. The wall was originally 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) long, but it is only 750 meters (0.5 miles) long now; it was renovated in 1987 with three towers, two at the ends of the wall and one in the middle.
Jiayu Pass 嘉峪关
Jiayuguan Pass used to be the starting point of the ancient Great Wall built during Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). It was the most important military defensive project guarding the far northwestern area of China because of its strategic location at the narrowest point of the western section of the Hexi Corridor which had been the vital defensive frontier since Han Dynasty (BC 202—220).
