Dunhuang: A Two-Day, Two-Night Travelogue
A note before I begin: I had never been to Dunhuang before, but in recent years, I’ve felt drawn by some mysterious force—whether it’s the ancient charm of this city or a longing for culture and civilization. A thought kept lingering in my mind: I want to visit Dunhuang. With the flood of modern self-media, I casually searched a few keywords out of interest, and big data began recommending more and more itineraries and travel plans for Dunhuang, making it even harder to resist. So when I finally had some free time this year, I eagerly planned my short two-day, one-night trip.
Day 1: Arrived in Dunhuang in the morning, checked into a pre-booked hotel to drop off luggage, and then headed straight to the Mogao Caves. After lunch at a popular online-recommended restaurant in Dunhuang, I returned to the hotel for an hour’s nap. In the afternoon, I visited Leiyin Temple, then went to Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring, spending a full five hours exploring. That evening, I had a simple dinner of local specialties at a nearby restaurant, and then watched a live outdoor performance of the Dunhuang Grand Ceremony, wrapping up the day.
Day 2: No rush in the morning. I set out for Yang Pass, had lunch at a farmhouse nearby, and spent the afternoon visiting Yumen Pass and the Yadan Geopark. Afterward, I stopped by the newly popular Shazhou Food Station and then returned to my hotel for the night. The next day, I left Dunhuang.
Everyone knows that tickets to the Mogao Caves need to be booked early—I reserved mine about a month in advance. No trip to Dunhuang is complete without visiting the Mogao Caves, known as the greatest art treasure on the Eurasian continent. It’s a wonder worth seeing in a lifetime, and a must-visit for scholars passionate about Buddhist culture and human civilization. According to our tour guide, Dunhuang’s unique geographical location in ancient times made it a crossroads of Chinese, Islamic, Greek, and Indian cultures. People of different skin colors and languages came and went; different cultures collided and exchanged, and this cultural fusion drove economic interaction, turning the Silk Road into a prosperous route. Dunhuang was the eastern choke point of this road. Sustained prosperity and population growth created the conditions for the spread of religion. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Buddhism crossed the Pamir Plateau into Xinjiang, continued eastward, and entered the Dunhuang region. In 366 CE, a monk named Le Zun dug the first cave in the southeast of Dunhuang, beginning the thousand-year history of cave construction at Mogao. Then, one day in June 1900, a Taoist priest named Wang Yuanlu and his disciple accidentally discovered the Library Cave in Cave 17 of Mogao. This discovery not only put Dunhuang in the global spotlight but also brought irreparable disaster to the Mogao Caves. Explorers and archaeologists from various countries smuggled over 30,000 manuscripts out of China. Today, those manuscripts are housed in more than 30 museums and libraries across over a dozen countries. Now, the Mogao Caves are as fragile and helpless as leaves trembling in the wind. The influx of tourists from around the world, along with Dunhuang’s climate and wind-blown sand, has affected the murals and statues to varying degrees. Fortunately, a group of elderly scholars who love Dunhuang and the Mogao Caves have carefully protected them, allowing us to see the murals displayed today. I also marvel at how modern technology now presents the murals in digital and immersive formats for visitors to enjoy. In short, cherish what we have now, and those who can come early to witness this great crystallization of human wisdom should experience the spiritual shock of the Mogao Caves firsthand.
Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring:
Since Leiyin Temple is also near Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring, we visited the temple before heading to the scenic area. Leiyin Temple’s architectural style felt less like Ming- or Qing-dynasty palaces, government offices, or mansions, and more like an ordinary folk residence. Its simple, solemn atmosphere immediately calmed my heart the moment I entered. From the Jin to the Song dynasties, it was a place where eminent monks from the Western Regions propagated Buddhism and dwelled, and it was a必经之地 for Central Plains monks traveling westward overland. Famous monks such as Zhu Fahu, Faxian, Kumarajiva, and Xuanzang all left indelible traces here. Therefore, this auspicious and peaceful site earned the reputation of “Good Nation, Divine Land, and Buddha’s Holy Land” during the Tang Dynasty. After a brief visit to Leiyin Temple, we arrived at the highlight of the day’s itinerary: Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring.
When I witnessed the spectacle of “the spring reflecting the moon without dust” and “sand ever filling not the spring, the spring never drying” with my own eyes, I was deeply impressed. Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring are like twin sisters in the vast Gobi Desert, accompanying each other since time immemorial—mountain and spring coexist, sand and spring grow together. The day we visited, the sun wasn’t too harsh, the weather was fine, and a cool breeze blew. My friend and I had long harbored the wish to wear red dresses and take photos at Mingsha Mountain. So we donned red dresses and shawls and snapped about a hundred pictures. But friends, if the sun is strong during your visit, I don’t recommend wearing just a dress—and be sure to apply sunscreen, as there is almost no shade at Mingsha Mountain. Since we were there, my friend and I tried almost every available activity: sand sliding, camel riding, desert off-roading, and paragliding. It was such a joy for me, a southerner, to experience desert fun like never before. The prices for the scenic area’s activities were reasonable. If paragliding and off-roading seem expensive, you can opt for camel riding—it’s very affordable and absolutely worth trying. I had never ridden a camel before, and I had a few laughs at first, but the young camel guide patiently taught me what to do. That said, the guide worked very hard, so my friend and I gave him a little tip before leaving, hoping to offer some small support. Since we had tickets for the Dunhuang Grand Ceremony performance at 9 p.m., we unfortunately missed the sunset at Mingsha Mountain—a real pity. But my friend and I still felt our trip was very fulfilling and satisfying. I personally suggest that if you have time, you should catch the desert sunset or sunrise. Another good option is to schedule the sunrise for the morning and visit the Mogao Caves in the afternoon. Finally, there are two best angles for photographing Crescent Moon Spring: one is to climb to the top of the sand mountain for a bird’s-eye view; the other is to get close and face it level.
Before coming to Dunhuang, I always felt it was a city full of mystery. While researching my trip, I saw promotions for the Dunhuang Grand Ceremony and found it very interesting. Since my job involves stage drama, I was deeply intrigued by this—the world’s first desert live outdoor performance. Traditional stage performances are the work of humans, but landscape live performances are a joint creation of humans and God. The New York Times once described it as “a Chinese-style wild fantasy of mountains and waters.” The northwest landscape is vast and expansive, and the desert is the main part of its natural body. The Dunhuang Grand Ceremony, using the world-famous Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring, subtly packages and reproduces every mountain and stream of Dunhuang, brewing a strong Dunhuang flavor on the path of returning to nature and simplicity. Set against the terrain of Mingsha Mountain and the surrounding mountain ranges, the theater is located at the foot of the sand hills, where rugged peaks and ravines are magnificent, and mist and haze drift in the air. Looking into the distance, Mingsha Mountain in the far and the nearby dunes embrace the theater, while the blue waters of Crescent Moon Spring ripple, all becoming elements of the live outdoor theater. Nature’s extraordinary craftsmanship is elevated to the extreme—real mountains, real water, an epic live performance of the timeless Silk Road legend, creating an awe-inspiring desert outdoor theater. Notably, the Dunhuang Grand Ceremony features a 360-degree rotating and forward-backward moving audience seating. Compared to traditional Dunhuang stage plays, it breaks the conventional viewing and perspective relationship. By constantly shifting the audience seats along with the stage performance, it enhances the audience’s immersive experience, making me feel more deeply the romantic sentiment of this stage and this city. What impressed me most was the inclusion of the Dunhuang intangible cultural heritage “Datiehua” (iron flower striking). Seeing the brilliance of the iron fireworks for the first time added a perfect finishing touch to the performance. I think the audience admired it too, cheering every time the iron flowers burst forth. In short, this performance provided a perfect end to my first day in Dunhuang. Friends visiting Dunhuang must see the magnificent Dunhuang Grand Ceremony.
Day 2 began with a visit to the majestic Yang Pass. Yang Pass is an ancient city buried by drifting sand, a site sung by countless poets and writers throughout history. Remnants of houses, farmland, canals, and other structures survive here. After strong winds, these ruins become clearly visible and striking. Since ancient times, Yang Pass has always evoked feelings of desolation, sadness, and lonely wilderness. The once-bustling strategic pass has been eroded and buried by wind and sand, stirring a sense of sorrow and grandeur. But if we look at today’s Yang Pass from another perspective, with the care of local residents, it has become a place of green willows, blooming flowers, lush forests, abundant grain, clear springs, and bunches of grapes. It no longer seems to be the synonym for bleak loneliness as described by Wang Wei in his line, “West of Yang Pass, there are no old friends.” When we examine history from a historical perspective, the result is often sorrowful and solemn, but from an ordinary person’s point of view, my eyes see only the present harvests of fruits and grains and the well-being of my wife and children.
In the afternoon, I set out to visit Yumen Pass. The main attractions here include Yumen Pass, the Han Great Wall, and Hecang Fortress. Yumen Pass was an important military pass and Silk Road transportation hub during the Han Dynasty. The Han Great Wall represents a historical microcosm of the Western Han dynasty’s comprehensive northern defense project. Hecang Fortress, built during the Western Han, served as an important military granary for frontier fortress supplies until the Wei-Jin period. Despite centuries of wind and rain erosion, these structures still stand in the Gobi desert, as if telling tales of the ancient pass’s past grandeur and prosperity.
Yadan National Geopark
Dunhuang has given me so many surprises. The Yadan Ghost City, a 4A-level tourist attraction, is so magnificent and imposing that my poor vocabulary cannot describe it—I can only repeatedly marvel at nature’s extraordinary craftsmanship. From our guide’s explanation, I learned that the formation of the Dunhuang Yadan landform went through a long historical process. Formed by lakebed sedimentation, crustal changes, rainwater erosion, and strong wind erosion, it has produced well-defined gullies and valleys, earthen mounds of varying heights, and sculptures as if carved by knives and chisels—“streets,” “castles,” “warships,” “pyramids,” and other shapes—diverse and lifelike. The guide, a local, said with unconcealed pride, “The Dunhuang Yadan landform is the largest, most geologically mature, and most visually valuable Yadan landform group discovered so far in the world—a rare global wonder.” A person’s love for their hometown shows through in such a way.
I’ve traveled to many places before and visited many internet-famous spots. Most were not particularly satisfying, but this time the Shazhou Food Station was a surprisingly delightful check-in point. When we arrived around 7 or 8 p.m., my friend and I were already very hungry. This food station, where you can sample all of Dunhuang’s specialties in one stop, was a godsend for time-pressed, hassle-averse travelers like us. We also quietly asked the local tour guide who had become friendly with us over the past few days whether the food at Shazhou Food Station was authentic. She said it was very authentic, a great place for young people to gather, drink local beer, savor the specialties, and chat. That night, we played until late before returning to the hotel to rest—a truly fulfilling day.
Dunhuang has not disappointed my expectations. I believe anyone who visits will not regret it. The simple local customs, cheap prices, world-famous attractions, magnificent live shows, and dishes that suit my taste—every aspect exceeded my expectations. My friend and I both felt it was a trip well worth taking. We plan to bring our parents during another holiday, stay a few more days, and savor the surprises this city brings with all our hearts.
