| Dunhuang | |
|---|---|
| — County-level city — | |
| Dunhuang market | |
| Dunhuang City (pink) in Jiuquan City (yellow), Gansu province, and the PRC | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Gansu |
| Prefecture-level city | Jiuquan |
| Elevation | 1,142 m (3,747 ft) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 187,578 |
| Time zone | CST (UTC+8) |
Dunhuang (Chinese: 敦煌; pinyin: Dūnhuáng, also as simplified Chinese: 炖煌; traditional Chinese: 燉煌; pinyin: Dūnhuáng in ancient times meaning 'Blazing Beacon') is a city (pop. 187,578 (2000)) in northwestern Gansu province, Western China. It was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road. It was also known at times as Shāzhōu (沙州), or 'City of Sands', a name still used today.[1] It is best known for the nearby Dunhuang Caves.
It is situated in a rich oasis containing Crescent Lake (月牙泉) and Mingsha Shan (鸣沙山, literally "Echoing-Sand Mountain"). Mingsha Shan is so named for the sound of the wind whipping off the dunes, the singing sand phenomenon.
It commands a very 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,[1] as well as controlling the entrance to the narrow Gansu Corridor which led straight to the heart of the north Chinese plains and the ancient capitals of Chang'an (today known as Xi'an) and Luoyang.[2]
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There is evidence of human habitation in the Dunhuang area as early as 2,000 BC, possibly by people recorded as the Qiang in Chinese history. Its name was also mentioned as part of the homeland of the Yuezhi or "Rouzhi" (月氏) in the Shiji (史記), however, if is possible that this mention may refer to an unrelated toponym, Dunhong. 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 the frontier garrison towns established by the Emperor Wu after the defeat of Xiongnu, and the Chinese built fortifications at Dunhuang and sent settlers there. The name Dunhuang, or Blazing Beacon, refers to the beacons lit to warn of attacks by marauding nomadic tribes. Dunhuang Commandery was probably established in 104 BC, or shortly thereafter. 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. [3]
"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."[4]
In later centuries, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, it was a major point of communication between ancient China and Central Asia. By the Tang Dynasty it became the major hub of commerce of the Silk Road. Early Buddhist monks arrived at Dunhuang via the ancient Northern Silk Road, the northernmost route of about 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) in length, which connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an westward over the Wushao Ling Pass to Wuwei and on to Kashgar.[5] For centuries, Buddhist monks at Dunhuang collected scriptures from the West, and many pilgrims passed through the area, painting murals inside the Mogao Caves or "Caves of a Thousand Buddhas."[6] A small number of Christian artifacts have also been found in the caves (see Jesus Sutras), testimony to the wide variety of people who made their way along the Silk Road.
As a frontier town, Dunhuang was fought over and occupied at various times by non-Han Chinese nationalities. After the fall of Han Dynasty it was under the rule of various nomadic tribes such as the Xiongnu during Northern Liang and the Turkic Tuoba during Northern Wei. The Tibetans occupied Dunhuang when the Tang empire became weakened considerably after 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, Dunhaung was ruled by a local Cao family who formed alliances with the Uighurs and the Kingdom of Khotan. During the Song Dynasty, Dunhuang fell outside the Chinese borders. In 1037 it came under the rule of Shazhou Uighurs, then in 1068 the Tanguts who founded the Xi Xia Dyansty. It was conquered in 1227 by the Mongols who sacked and destroyed the town, and became part of China again when Kublai Khan conquered the rest of China. 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.
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.[7] The expansion of the Kumtag Desert, which is resulting from long-standing overgrazing of surrounding lands, has reached the edges of the city.[8] The city is also the namesake of prominent Chinese e-commerce site DHgate.com (simplified Chinese: 敦煌网; pinyin: Dūnhuángwǎng).
In 2011, satellite images showing huge structures in the desert near Dunhuang surfaced online and caused a brief media stir[9].
Dunhuang, being surrounded by high mountains, has an arid, continental climate. The annual average temperature is 9.48 °C (49.1 °F), but the monthly daily mean temperature ranges from 24.6 °C (76.3 °F) in July down to −8.3 °C (17.1 °F) in January. The city is extremely hot in summer and cold in winter, and usually has sharp temperature differences between day and night. Precipitation occurs only in trace amounts and quickly evaporates.[10]
| Climate data for Dunhuang (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −0.8 (30.6) |
4.9 (40.8) |
12.7 (54.9) |
21.2 (70.2) |
27.0 (80.6) |
30.9 (87.6) |
32.7 (90.9) |
31.7 (89.1) |
26.8 (80.2) |
18.8 (65.8) |
8.4 (47.1) |
0.6 (33.1) |
17.9 (64.2) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −14.6 (5.7) |
−10.5 (13.1) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
4.1 (39.4) |
9.6 (49.3) |
13.9 (57.0) |
16.4 (61.5) |
14.6 (58.3) |
8.5 (47.3) |
0.6 (33.1) |
−5.5 (22.1) |
−12 (10.4) |
1.8 (35.2) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 0.8 (0.031) |
0.8 (0.031) |
2.1 (0.083) |
2.4 (0.094) |
2.4 (0.094) |
8.0 (0.315) |
15.2 (0.598) |
6.3 (0.248) |
1.5 (0.059) |
0.8 (0.031) |
1.3 (0.051) |
0.8 (0.031) |
42.4 (1.669) |
| % humidity | 52 | 40 | 35 | 31 | 33 | 42 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 51 | 55 | 43.3 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.5 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 4.8 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 21.1 |
| Sunshine hours | 219.0 | 218.6 | 254.9 | 282.4 | 320.2 | 313.6 | 318.9 | 316.1 | 296.1 | 280.8 | 230.4 | 206.8 | 3,257.8 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
A number of Buddhist cave sites are located in the Dunhuang area, the most important of these is the Mogao Caves which is located 25 km southwest of Dunhuang. There are 735 caves in Mogao. Numerous smaller Buddhist cave sites are located in the region, including the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, the Eastern Thousands Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves and the Five Temple site.
Apart from the Buddhist caves, a number of sites are of interest:
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