Mogao Grottoes a magnet for tourists across world

As a celebrated UNESCO World Heritage Site, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in the Gobi Desert of Northwest China's Gansu province has played an important role in combining the brilliance of Eastern and Western civilizations along the Silk Road.

The 1,600-year-old relic site is home to numerous ancient murals and Buddhist statues, and attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually. Official statistics show that from January to August of this year the number of visits was about 30 percent more than that during the same period in 2019.

"Many visitors have questions before touring this art palace, and they will share new discoveries with us during their visit," said Li Yaping, a guide at Mogao Grottoes. "In recent years, tourists have had stronger emotional resonance with us in Dunhuang culture, and many are moved to tears by the beauty of the 1,000-year-old wall paintings."

Responding to a question about the fading murals, Li said experts at Dunhuang Academy's protection research institute can scientifically and accurately reproduce images invisible to the naked eye through multi-spectral analysis technology, thereby ensuring the exquisite murals will be handed down for generations.

Dunhuang Academy pays special attention to the training of guides, and also regularly invites experts on scientific research and archaeology to host lectures. After years of development, the academy has become the largest one of its kind in the world and has set up many branches, including a Buddhist sutra research institute and a research institute focusing on the comprehensive and systematic study of the grottoes.

Over the past four years, based on the diverse values of the grottoes and cultural relics, the academy has carried out in-depth research in art, archaeology, literature, historical geography and religion. It has also signed strategic cooperation agreements with more than 30 domestic and foreign museums, cultural institutions and universities. With the rise of digital technologies, Mogao Grottoes Visitor Center was opened in 2014. Members of the public can watch two 20-minute films, including one about the seven most valuable caves in terms of artistic achievement, and view online 3D renderings of the caves.

The second phase of the project, aimed at providing visitors with greater knowledge about the past and present status of Mogao Grottoes through immersive and interactive exhibitions, is scheduled to open in July 2024. Digital technologies are used to preserve images of the relics, enable archaeologists to record detailed information about the caves and help artists make facsimiles of the murals, according to Dunhuang Academy.

The academy also plans to step up sharing related digital resources in a bid to meet the needs of society for further research and appreciation of Dunhuang culture. In August 2022, the Dunhuang Documents Database, comprised of the basic information, digital images, full text transcripts and a related research literature catalogue, was launched online as a global sharing platform.

Different from the international database, which only has documents and photos without content interpretation, the new version has translated all the characters into simplified Chinese that people can understand, said Su Bomin, president of Dunhuang Academy.

The Dunhuang Documents Database will be updated annually, Su added.