For many years, Dunhuang has fascinated travelers with its 45,000 square meters of breathtaking murals and more than 3,000 painted statues. If the ancient Silk Road is splendid, then the 492 grottoes on the mountain cliff are sensational.

Located at the west end of the “Hexi Corridor” in Gansu Province, Dunhuang has a glorious history and culture. Dun － means large, Huang － means prosperous. This large and prosperous ancient town is the center of various ethnical peoples and became an important trading and cultural center in Silk Road
Muogao grottoes are famous for the amazing art works that created about 2,000 years ago. It well represents the history of communication between west and east. For instance, the feature of Buddha's face has changed dramatically from time to time. In the early age, Buddha looked more Western feature in body structure.

In 366 A.D. a monk named Yuezun had a vision of the Buddha over the Sanwei Mountain opposite the cliff of the Mingsha Mountain, so the devout believer set to build the first cave on the cliff. Since then more and more caves have been excavated over a thousand year.

The caves range in size from small chambers of a few meters across to huge halls of tens of meters. Other than paintings they contain also sculptures, here mostly Buddha and his disciples, or a flying deity. One type of creatures depicted angels, who however do not carry wings, but fly amidst colored ribbons as if by their own lightness. The lightness and worldly beauty of the creatures remains fascinating. They capture the feeling flying, which many know from their dreams, in a painting.

The images floated around us in the twilight coming from the caves' entrances and the spots of our flashlight highlighted a face there, a horse there, a fish, a castle, or a daemon.

The Dunhuang grottos at one point gathered many ancient artists in the history. Today, a great number of anxious young artists in China still look up those wonderful art works and continue to develop its value through the study.