Dunhuang

Dunhuang originally means "brilliance" or "magnificence", which is a hint that it must once have been an important city. Its position at the intersection of two trade routes was what made Dunhuang flourish. The coming and going of horse and camel caravans carried new thoughts, ideas, arts and sciences to the East and West. It has always been known as a famous oasis stop on the ancient trade route--Silk Road between China and Rome. Dunhuang is best known for nearby caves that contain Buddhist frescoes, ritual objects, and documents dating from the 4th to the 12th century AD. These may be the best-preserved examples of Buddhist frescoes in China. Since the first century B.C. when Emperor Han Wudi started to expand the empire westwards, it was an oasis irrigated by the Tang River and began to serve as an important way station on the main trade route between China and Central Asia. In 1986, it is entitled to be "China historical and cultural city".

Geographical Features

Located at the west end of Hexi corridor, a tiny oasis rounded by high mountains, desert and Gobi, with the average altitude of 1100m The city is in the northwestern part of China, at 42N, is at approximately the same latitude as the cities of Boston, Rome, and Barcelona. The total size of the city is 31,200 sq km, in among a cultivated land size is 23,000 sq km. The Qilian Mt. ranges along the city with the Beishan Mountains in the north and Dieshan-Minshan Mountains in the southwest. There is the Yellow River and tributaries such as the Dang River and Shule River passing by this area together with the other inland rivers in the Hexi Corridor irrigate the city. The agricultural production around Dunhuang consists of cotton, wheat, millet, and melons. The city's manufacturing plants produce agricultural tools, chemical fertilizers, and edible oils. The city's climate feature is temperate, dry and temperatures shift greatly from day to night. The annual temperature is 9.3Co . The daily difference in temperature is great, and the common saying: 'morning with fur-lined jacket, noon gauze', and hot summer with the highest temperature over 40Co . The annual average rainfall annual precipitation 1982.7 mm, concentrated in spring and autumn.

People

The total population of the city is 100,000. This was an area where many races lived together. Chinese (in the ethnic sense), Hui, Tibetan, Manchu, Dongxiang, Yugu, Baoan, Mongolian, Kazak, Tu, Sala, Manchu and others, together with Han Nationality are residing here.

History

Dunhuang was very important in history. For many periods of Chinese and Inner Asian history, it marked the western limit of direct Chinese administrative control and military authority. Located near one of the important nodes of the routes across Eurasia, Dunhuang experienced a variety of cultural influences. While the history of Dunhuang and its region has much in common with that in other cities in Inner Asia, part of its distinction lie in the degree to which life in Dunhuang has been documented.

Dunhuang and the Silk Road

The oasis town of Dunhuang was in a fertile area known for its melons and grapes in particular - and because it became a major staging post for traders and for missionary monks and pilgrims of Buddhism and other religions. It was one of the four garrison commentaries that assured Chinese control over the trade routes to the western regions. Dunhuang was considered a place of importance when it was under the control of the Western Xia kingdom (990-1227) and the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). From the time of the Han to the end of the Yuan, a most important trade route developed from China to the West, which later became known by the marvelously evocative name, The Silk Road. The ancient traveler leaving China along this road would pass through Dunhuang before braving the many hazards of the journey westwards through East Turkestan (present-day Xinjiang). Dunhuang has a special place in history because of its location close to the parting of the northern and southern routes that skirted the impassable Taklamakan desert. Silk was traded along this seven thousand kilometer braid of caravan trails from China right across Asia to the eastern Roman Empire on the shores of the Mediterranean, and also to south Asia. Persian and Sogdian merchants traveled the whole length, and were such familiar sights in the Chinese capitals Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) and Luoyang that they can frequently be found. This route was also used by Buddhist monks from China and Korea traveling west in search of images and scriptures, and by ambassadors and princes from the west making the long journey to China. It was by means of the Silk Road that all manner of exotic imports reached China, as diplomatic gifts or through trade, and mainly in exchange for silks: vessels made of gold and silver and the techniques for working these metals; fine glass; fragrances and spices; exotic animals such as lions and ostriches; new fruits such as grapes; dancers, musicians and their instruments. After the splendors of the Tang dynasty, however, trade along the Silk Road was severely curtailed, and Dunhuang was left in isolation. Later trade between China and Europe was entirely by sea.