Dunhuang, an ancient historical city with glorious culture, is located in northwest of China. In ancient China, Dunhuang was an important pass of the famous Silk Road. Through thick and thin for thousands of years, Dunhuang was left splendid cultural and historical relics, such as Mogao Grottoes.
Mogao Grottoes, also called Dunhuang Grottoes, is known as the pearl of oriental art. Dunhuang Grottoes is the largest-scale grottoes preserved in China, containing 492 caves experiencing 10 dynasties of hundreds of years history with 45,000 square meters murals and 2,000 painted sculptures.

The themes were mainly derived from the Buddhist stories, and some reflected the contemporary customs, farming and weaving, hunting, weddings and funerals, and the fun of festivals. These murals and sculptures were the best improvement of the people’s unrivaled skills, and the grottoes are considered to be “the dawn of human’s civilization”. Mogao Grottoes was placed on the World Heritage list in 1987.
The natural landscapes would not disappoint you either.

Echoing-Sand Dune and Crescent Lake reflect with each other, the orange dune surrounding the clean water to be the millennium unchanged charming scenery. The sand mountain gives off the great sounds when the fierce wind blows, while the breeze blows, the mountain makes a musical sounds. Thus, the sand mountains gain its name “echoing-sand”. Crescent Lake, surrounded by the Echoing-Sand Dune, is named after its shape of a crescent with the length of 150 meters and width of 50 meters. Although surrounded by yellow sand, the lake is still bright and clear and does not dry up for thousands of years.
Although Yang Pass and Yumen Pass only become the ruins today, when travelers are standing aside the broken walls, they seem that they could feel the ancient wars of shining spears and armored horses.
Dunhuang, a city standing on Gobi and the desert for thousands of years, now is a heavy historical treasury of Chinese history.

For a different China touring plan, Silk Road tour is a good choice to experience the history on the desert. A tour to Dunhuang highlights the whole trip as it would shock both your eyes and mind.