Travel in Dunhuang

 

1. Mogao Caves (莫高窟)

The Mogao Caves, also known as the Mogao Grottoes or the Caves of A Thousand Buddhas, are set into a cliff wall of Echoing Sand Mountain about 25km southeast of Dun-Huang, the oasis city in the Gobi desert. This honeycomb of caves was constructed over a millennium, from the 4th to the 14th centuries, and represents the height of Buddhist art and the world's richest treasure house of Buddhist sutras, murals and sculptures.

During its heyday, the cave complex had thousands of caves, and today, a total of 492 grottoes, 45,000 square-meters of murals, 2,400 painted statues and over 250 residential caves remains. Almost every grotto contains a group of colorful paintings of Buddha and Bodhisattvas and other religious paintings, or social activities of different dynasties. The caves carved on the cliff wall provide voluminous research material for the study of all aspects of Chinese medieval society, in areas such as religion, art, politics, economics, military affairs, culture, literature, language, music, dance, architecture and medical science. The rich culture and art unearthed in the caves has even given birth to a new field of study, called "Dunhuangology"!

莫高窟也称千佛洞，位于敦煌市区的东南侧。石窟始建于东晋十六国时期，石窟开凿历经了千年，直到元朝结束。拥有大量的壁画、石窟、文物等，是全世界闻名的佛教艺术胜地。在这里可以欣赏到规模浩大内容丰富的石窟和壁画艺术，还能通过讲解和电影展示了解到佛教在敦煌上千年的发展历史，是游客游玩敦煌的必去之地。

2. Mingha Sand Dunes (鸣沙山) Crescent Moon Spring（月牙泉）

Mingha Sand Dunes and Crescent Moon Spring lies in Dun-Huang, which is one of the 40 Top National Natural Scenery Zones of China. Especially, Mingsha Sand Dunes, situated 6 km southwest away from Dun-Huang Town, is stretching for more than 40 km's long and more than 20 km's wide. According to the historical recording such as “the Book of Later Han dynasty”, the reputation of Mingha Sand Dunes and Crescent Moon Spring in Dun-Huang could be traced back to about 2 thousand years ago, when it had been regarded as a spectacular sight in Tenggeli Desert.

Crescent Moon Spring lies in the arm of the dunes at the foot of Mingsha Hills, extending for 118m from west to the east but only 25m from south to the north. As it looks very much like a new moon hence it is named Crescent Spring. Despite being surrounded by the sand hills, the Spring has never been covered by quick sands and kept clear perennially. Featuring the quite pretty scenes, it neither overflows after rain nor dries up after drought. It is really a wonder that the sands and spring lake coexist together for thousands of years.

鸣沙山月牙泉位于敦煌市区以南，这里沙山与泉水共处，历来以“沙漠奇观”闻名于世，是敦煌的名片之一。在这里你既可以爬上鸣沙山，俯瞰月牙泉，还能在山顶上欣赏大漠日落，感受西北大漠的苍凉广阔。

虽然历来水火不能相容，但是月牙泉却安然处在这一片沙山之中。月牙泉位于鸣沙山下，处在沙丘环抱之中，因为地势的关系，刮风时沙子不往山下走，而是往山上流动，所以月牙泉永远不被沙子埋没，被誉为“沙漠之眼”。

鸣沙山的山体由流沙堆积而成，远远望去，沙丘高低起伏，蔚为壮观。游览景区建议安排在下午，这样既可以避开中午沙漠中的酷热，还能在夕阳西下时，爬到山顶遥望远处的沙海和山下的月牙泉，观看唯美的日落。

3. Yardang Landform（雅丹地貌）

A yardang is a streamlined protuberance carved from bedrock or any consolidated or semiconsolidated material by the dual action of wind abrasion by dust and sand, and deflation which is the removal of loose material by wind turbulence. Yardangs become elongated features typically three or more times longer than wide, and when viewed from above, resemble the hull of a boat. Facing the wind is a steep, blunt face that gradually gets lower and narrower toward the lee end. Yardangs are formed by wind erosion, typically of an originally flat surface formed from areas of harder and softer material. The soft material is eroded and removed by the wind, and the harder material remains. The resulting pattern of yardangs is therefore a combination of the original rock distribution, and the fluid mechanics of the air flow and resulting pattern of erosion.

敦煌雅丹地质公园又称敦煌魔鬼城，位于敦煌市西北180公里的戈壁上，是游客游玩敦煌西线（包含玉门关、汉长城、阳关、西千佛洞等景点）的重要景观。

公园里以大片的独特雅丹地貌群为主，在戈壁之上显得奇幻壮观，而每到傍晚时夕阳西照，更是拍摄摄影大片的绝妙地点。