Dunhuang Travel Guide
Are you longing for a trip to the Northwest but troubled by the lack of suitable options? Are you struggling with choosing the right scenic routes? Once you open this travelogue, you won't have to worry anymore. This travelogue details the guide and玩法 of Dunhuang, the pearl of the desert, a small city you'll want to visit again and again. Read on.
The Mogao Caves, a key national cultural relic protection site, commonly known as the Thousand Buddha Caves, are hailed as the most valuable cultural discovery of the 20th century and the "Oriental Louvre." Located in Dunhuang at the western end of the Hexi Corridor, they are famous worldwide for their exquisite murals and sculptures. The Mogao Caves consist of two parts: the Dunhuang Mogao Caves Digital Exhibition Center and the physical cave temples. Before visiting the physical caves, you can watch the themed digital film "Millennium Mogao" and the dome-screen film "Fantastic Buddhist Palace" at the Digital Exhibition Center. Remember to make an online reservation in advance.
Mingsha Mountain is located at the northern foot of Shaming Mountain, 5 kilometers south of Dunhuang city. It gets its name from the sound made when the sand moves. In ancient times, it was called "Shajiao Mountain" and "Shensha Mountain." The mountain is formed by accumulated flowing sand, stretching from the top of the Mogao Caves cliffs in the east to the Danghe Reservoir in the west, extending 40 kilometers east-west and about 20 kilometers north-south, with a highest altitude of 1715 meters. The entire mountain is composed of red, yellow, green, black, and white grain-like sand particles. It has a beautiful shape with peaks like blades, appearing as rolling ridges from afar, winding like a dragon.
Crescent Moon Spring is located at the northern foot of Mingsha Mountain, 5 kilometers south of Dunhuang city, Gansu Province. Throughout history, it has been renowned for its miraculous landscape of "mountain and spring coexisting, sand and water coexisting," known as "one of the wonders of the scenery beyond the Great Wall." In 1994, it was designated as a national key scenic spot. Crescent Moon Spring lies at the northern foot of Mingsha Mountain, surrounded by the mountain. It is over 300 meters long east-west, over 50 meters wide north-south, and about 5 meters deep. The spring is shaped like a crescent moon, hence its name. In ancient times, it was called "Shajing" or "Yaochun," once mistakenly referred to as "Wowa Pond," and officially named "Crescent Moon Spring" in the Qing Dynasty.
Yadan National Geopark
Yadan National Geopark, also known as Yadan Ghost City, is located about 108 km northwest of Dunhuang city and about 100 km northwest of Yumen Pass. The Yadan landform is full of lodestones like "chocolate candies," rendering compasses useless. The "Yadan" landform is a typical wind-eroded landscape. Its grandeur, majesty, weirdness, and wonder cannot be appreciated without visiting in person. The park features concentrated distributions of various uniquely shaped wind-eroded landforms.
Yumen Pass was first established when Emperor Wu of Han opened the road to the Western Regions and set up the four commanderies of Hexi. It got its name because jade from the Western Regions was transported through this pass. In the Han Dynasty, it was the gateway to the Western Regions. Its site is now at Xiaofangpan City, northwest of Dunhuang, Gansu. Yumen Pass, also known as Xiaofangpan City, was built around 111 BC. It was a strategic choke point on the northern route of the Silk Road to the Western Regions, located in the Gobi Desert 90 km northwest of Dunhuang city. The pass city is square, with walls made of rammed earth, 10 meters high, 3 meters wide at the top, and 5 meters wide at the bottom, well-preserved. It is 24 meters long east-west, 26.4 meters wide north-south, covering an area of 633 square meters, with gates on the northwest and southeast sides.
"No dust is raised on the road wet with morning rain; The willows by the hotel look so fresh and green. I invite you to drink a cup of wine again; West of the Sunny Pass no more friends will be seen." As a necessary pass on the southern route of the Silk Road, Yang Pass, located near the Antique Beach southwest of Dunhuang city, was an important gateway to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty. Today, the site is just a small earth platform. At the Yang Pass Museum, displays of weapons and farming tools show us the scene of soldiers guarding the frontier at that time.
Traditional stage performances are human creations, but only live landscape performances are the joint masterpieces of man and God. The New York Times once described live landscape performances as "Chinese-style landscape fantasies." The vast and expansive northwest landscape, with deserts as the main component of its natural body, inspired "Dunhuang Sheng Dian" (Dunhuang Grand Ceremony). Using Dunhuang's world-famous Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring, it seamlessly packages and restores the mountains and waters of Dunhuang, brewing a strong Dunhuang flavor on the path of returning to nature and simplicity. "Dunhuang Sheng Dian" is set against the landscape of Mingsha Mountain and the surrounding mountain ranges, right at the foot of the sand mountain, where strange peaks and ravines are magnificent, and the mist and haze drift in the air. Looking far into the distance, the distant Mingsha Mountain and the nearby sand dunes embrace the theater, and the blue Crescent Spring ripples gently, all becoming elements of the live landscape theater. Nature's extraordinary craftsmanship is sublimated to the extreme, with real mountains and real water, performing an immortal Silk Road legend in a live setting, creating a magnificent desert open-air theater. It is worth mentioning that "Dunhuang Sheng Dian" has a 360-degree rotating and forward/backward moving audience seating, breaking the conventional viewing and perspective relationship compared to traditional Dunhuang stage plays. Through the continuous rotation and alternation of the audience seating and stage performance, it enhances the audience's viewing experience, allowing them to feel more deeply the romantic sentiment belonging to this stage and this city.
