China Travel

It may seem unlikely that one of China's most important and revealing cultural sites would be located on the dusty edge of the Gobi Desert, far from traditional centers of power and signature tourist attractions like the Terracotta Warriors and Forbidden City. But China's is a story of travel, transformation and adaptation as much as it is one of continuity and Confucian stability, and few places make this clearer than the Silk Road's amazing Mogao Caves (Mogao Ku). Here, over 1,600 years ago, in over 1,000 caves scattered throughout the rocky desert near modern-day Dunhuang, Buddhist monks traveling east from India and Tibet settled, establishing, along with China's first Buddhist monasteries, a revered tradition of filling the area's arid caves with stunning paintings and sculptures. Today, only some of the caves are open to the public, as conservation and restoration work ... more »