Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Northwestern China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Known as Sachu (沙洲),Chinese: 沙州, modern pronunciation (Pinyin): Shāzhōu it was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is best known for the nearby Mogao Caves.
Dunhuang is situated in an oasis containing Crescent Lake and the Singing Sand Dunes. Dunhuang commands a strategic position at the crossroads of the ancient Southern Silk Route and the main road leading from India via Lhasa to Mongolia and southern Siberia, and also controls the entrance to the narrow Hexi Corridor, which leads straight to the heart of the north Chinese plains and the ancient capitals of Chang'an (today known as Xi'an) and Luoyang.Lovell (2006), pp. 74–75.
Administratively, the county-level city of Dunhuang is part of the prefecture-level city of Jiuquan. Historically, the city and/or its surrounding region has also been known by the names Shazhou (prefecture of sand) or Guazhou (prefecture of melons).Cable and French (1943), p. 41. In the modern era, the two alternative names have been assigned respectively to Shazhou zhen (Shazhou town) which serves as Dunhuang's seat of government, and to the neighboring Guazhou County.
Etymology A number of derivations of the name Dunhuang have been suggested by scholars: Giles 1892: 'artificial mound, tumulus, beacon mound, square block of stone or wood' + 'blazing, bright, luminous'. Mathews (1931) 1944: , now usually 'regard as important, to esteem; honest, sincere, generous' + 'a great blaze; luminous, glittering'. McGraw-Hill 1963: ('honest + shining'). Jáo and Demieville 1971 (French, Airs de Touen-houang): () 'noise of burning' + 'great blaze' [per Mathews]. Lín Yǚtáng 1972: () 'small mound (+ shining)' or () 'to shimmer (+ shining)'. Kāngxī 1716: , also [t=t’]. Mair 1977, Ptolemy's c. 150 Geography refers to Dunhuang as Greek (Throana), possibly from Iranian Druvana meaning something like "fortress for tax collecting."
History
Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties There is evidence of habitation in the area as early as 2,000 BC, possibly by people recorded as the Qiang in Chinese history. According to Zuo Zhuan and Book of the Later Han, the Dunhuang region was a part of the ancient Guazhou, which was known for its production of melons. Its name was also mentioned in relation to the homeland of the Yuezhi in the Records of the Grand Historian. Some have argued that this may refer to the unrelated toponym Dunhong – the archaeologist Lin Meicun has also suggested that Dunhuan may be a Chinese name for the Tukhara, a people widely believed to be a Central Asian offshoot of the Yuezhi.Lin Meicun (1998), The Western Regions of the Han–Tang Dynasties and the Chinese Civilization [Chinese language only], Beijing, Wenwu Chubanshe, pp. 64–67.
Warring States period During the Warring States period, the inhabitants of Dunhuang included the Dayuezhi people, Wusun people, and Saizhong people (Chinese name for Scythians). As Dayuezhi became stronger, it absorbed the Qiang tribes.
Han dynasty By the third century BC, the area became dominated by the Xiongnu, but came under Chinese rule during the Han dynasty after Emperor Wu defeated the Xiongnu in 121 BC.
Dunhuang was one of the four frontier garrison towns (along with Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Wuwei) established by the Emperor Wu after the defeat of the Xiongnu, and the Chinese built fortifications at Dunhuang and sent settlers there. The name Dunhuang, meaning "Blazing Beacon", refers to the beacons (watchtower) lit to warn of attacks by marauding nomadic tribes. Dunhuang Commandery was probably established shortly after 104 BC.Hulsewé, A. F. P. (1979). China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. Leiden, E. Brill, . pp.75–76 Located in the western end of the Hexi Corridor near the historic junction of the Northern and Southern Silk Roads, Dunhuang was a town of military importance.Hill (2015), Vol. I, pp. 137–140."The Great Wall was extended to Dunhuang, and a line of fortified beacon towers stretched westwards into the desert. By the second century AD, Dunhuang had a population of more than 76,000 and was a key supply base for caravans that passed through the city: those setting out for the arduous trek across the desert loaded up with water and food supplies, and others arriving from the west gratefully looked upon the mirage-like sight of Dunhuang's walls, which signified safety and comfort. Dunhuang prospered on the heavy flow of traffic. The first Buddhist caves in the Dunhuang area were hewn in 353."Bonavia (2004), p. 162.
Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty During the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties, it was the main stop of communication between ancient China and the rest of the world and a major hub of commerce of the Silk Road. Dunhuang was the intersection city of all three main Silk Routes (north, central, and south) during this time.
From the West also came early Buddhist monks, who had arrived in China by the 1st century, and a sizable Buddhist community eventually developed in Dunhuang. The caves carved out by the monks, originally used for meditation, developed into a place of worship and pilgrimage called the Mogao Caves or "Caves of a Thousand Buddhas."The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia, by Frances Wood Several Christian, Jewish, and Manichaean artifacts have also been found in the caves (see for example Jingjiao Documents), testimony to the wide variety of people who made their way along the Silk Road. The Sogdians established large merchants colonies.
During the time of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Li Gao established Western Liang here in 400. In 405, the capital of the Western Liang was moved from Dunhuang to Jiuquan. In 421, Western Liang was conquered by Northern Liang.
As a frontier town, Dunhuang was fought over and occupied at various times by non-Han people. After the fall of the Han dynasty, it came under the rule of various nomadic tribes, such as the Xiongnu during the Northern Liang and the Tuoba during Northern Wei. The Tibetan Empire occupied Dunhuang when Tang China became weakened considerably by the An Lushan Rebellion; and even though it was later returned to Tang rule, it was under quasi-autonomous rule by the local general Zhang Yichao, who expelled the Tibetans in 848. After the fall of Tang, Zhang's family formed the Kingdom of Golden Mountain in 910, but in 911, it came under the influence of the Uyghurs. The Zhangs were succeeded by the Cao family, who formed alliances with the Uyghurs and the Kingdom of Khotan.
Song dynasty During the Song dynasty, Dunhuang fell outside the Chinese borders. In 1036 the Tanguts who founded the Western Xia dynasty captured Dunhuang. From the reconquest of 848 to about 1036 (i.e. era of the Guiyi Circuit), Dunhuang was a multicultural entrepot that contained one of the largest ethnic Sogdian communities in China following the An Lushan Rebellion. The Sogdians were Sinified to some extent and were bilingual in Chinese and Sogdian, and wrote their documents in Chinese characters, but horizontally from left to right instead of right to left in vertical lines, as Chinese was normally written at the time.Galambos, Imre (2015), "She Association Circulars from Dunhuang", in Antje Richter, A History of Chinese Letters and Epistolary Culture, Brill: Leiden, Boston, pp 853–77.
Yuan dynasty Dunhuang was conquered in 1227 by the Mongols, and became part of the Mongol Empire in the wake of Kublai Khan's conquest of China under the Yuan dynasty.
Ming dynasty During the Ming dynasty, China became a major sea power, conducting several voyages of exploration with sea routes for trade and cultural exchanges. Dunhuang went into a steep decline after the Chinese trade with the outside world became dominated by southern sea routes, and the Silk Road was officially abandoned during the Ming dynasty. It was occupied again by the Tibetans c. 1516, and also came under the influence of the Chagatai Khanate in the early sixteenth century.
Qing dynasty Dunhuang was retaken by China two centuries later c. 1715, during the Qing dynasty, and the present-day city of Dunhuang was established east of the ruined old city in 1725.
People's Republic of China In 1988, Dunhuang was elevated from county to county-level city status. On March 31, 1995, Turpan and Dunhuang became sister cities.
Today, the site is an important tourist attraction and the subject of an ongoing archaeological project. A large number of manuscripts and artifacts retrieved at Dunhuang have been digitized and made publicly available via the International Dunhuang Project. The spreading Kumtag Desert, the result of long-standing overgrazing of the surrounding land, has reached the edges of the city.
In 2011 satellite images showing huge structures in the desert near Dunhuang surfaced online and caused a brief media stir.
Culture
Buddhist caves
A number of Buddhist cave sites are located in the Dunhuang area, the most important of these is the Mogao Caves, which is located southeast of Dunhuang. There are 735 caves in Mogao, and the caves in Mogao are particularly noted for their Buddhist art,Dunhuang Mogao caves art museum as well as the hoard of manuscripts, the Dunhuang manuscripts, found hidden in a sealed-up cave. Many of these caves were covered with murals and contain many Buddhist statues. Discoveries continue to be found in the caves, including excerpts from a Christian Bible dating to the Yuan dynasty.
Numerous smaller Buddhist cave sites are located in the region, including the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, the Eastern Thousands Buddha Caves, and the Five Temple site. The Yulin Caves are located further east in Guazhou County.
Other historical sites
Crescent Lake and Singing Sand Dunes The Yumen Pass, built in 111 BC, located northwest of Dunhuang in the Gobi desert. The Yang Pass White Horse Pagoda Dunhuang Limes Hecang Fortress (), located about northeast of the Western-Han-era Yumen Pass, was built during the Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and significantly rebuilt during the Western Jin (280–316 AD).Wang Xudang, Li Zuixiong, and Zhang Lu (2010). "Condition, Conservation, and Reinforcement of the Yumen Pass and Hecang Earthen Ruins Near Dunhuang", in Neville Agnew (ed), Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Conservation of Grotto Sites, Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, People's Republic of China, June 28 – July 3, 2004, 351–357. Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, J. Paul Getty Trust. , pp 351–352.
Museums Dunhuang Museum
Night market
Dunhuang Night Market is a night market held on the main thoroughfare, Dong Dajie, in the city centre of Dunhuang, popular with tourists during the summer months. Many souvenir items are sold, including such typical items as jade, jewelry, scrolls, hangings, small sculptures, leather shows puppets, coins, Tibetan horns and Buddha statues. A sizable number of members of China's ethnic minorities engage in business at these markets. A Central Asian dessert or sweet is also sold, consisting of a large, sweet confection made with nuts and dried fruit, sliced into the portion desired by the customer.
Geography
Climate