Dunhuang lies at the western end of the Hexi corridor in Gansu Province in Northwest China, an oasis on the Eastern edge of Takli-Makan Desert. It is nourished by melted snow water from the Qilian Mountains. The ancient town used to be an important stopover point on the Silk Road. The name 'Dunhuang' was given in the Han Dynasty. In Chinese 'Dun' means grandness and 'Huang' means prosperity.

Magao Caves, also called Mogao Grottoes or the Caves of A Thousand Buddhas, are set into a cliff wall of Echoing-sand Mountain about 25km southeast of the oasis city in the Gobi desert, Dunhuang. The honeycombed caves, enjoying a millennium long construction from the 4th to the 14th centuries and marking the height of Buddhist art, are the world's richest treasure house of Buddhist sutras, murals and sculptures. At its height, the cave complex had thousands caves. A total of 492 grottoes remain after thousand years vicissitude, covered with 45,000-square-metre fascinating murals. There are also 2,400 painted statues and over 250 residential caves. Almost every grotto exhibits a group of colorful clean-cut paintings of Buddha and Bodhisattvas, and other religious paintings, or social activities of different dynasties. The caves carved on the cliff wall provide voluminous research materials for the study of all aspects of the social life, such as religion, art, politics, economics, military affairs, culture, literature, language, music, dance, architecture and medical science in mediaeval China. The splendid culture and art unearthed here stimulates worldwide interest and now a new international subject called 'Dunhuangology forms'.

Crescent Moon Spring or Crescent Lake is 6km (3.73 miles) south of the center of Dunhuang, near the Echoing-Sand Mountain, and is said to be where the oasis meets the desert. Crescent Lake was formed by spring water trickling up into a depression between huge sand dunes, forming a crescent-shaped pond. The climb to the top of the dunes is sweaty work, but the dramatic view back across the rolling desert sands towards the oasis makes the effort worthwhile. Recreational activities include pursuits such as riding camels across the sand dune, or the more adventurous 'dune surfing' (sand sliding) and paragliding (jumping off the top of high dunes with a chute on your back). There is also a tow-gliding operation closer to the entry gate: continue past it if you want to jump off a dune!

Ruins of Yumenguan is 101km northwest of Dunhuang, used to be one of the two critical defensive passes protecting Dunhuang from invasion from the West about 2,000 years ago. At that time, anyone in China wishing to take the Silk Road west (or east into China through Dunhuang) would go through this pass. If you are familiar with ancient Chinese poetry, then you may recall a poem written by the renowned Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) poet, Wang Zhihuan, describing the unique scenery and atmosphere here. The pass was also known as 'Little Square City', named after a rare square piece of jade that was sent from the west to the Han emperor. In modern times, there are two gates in each of the western and northern sides of the pass built of yellow clay. Owing to severe erosion, some parts of the walls have collapsed, forming huge holes. On the northern side, there is a road leading west towards the ancient village of Hechang (15km away), which used to be the granary for the pass garrison.

Han Dynasty Great Wall (Jade Gate Pass), is also called 'Small Fangpancheng'. According to historical records, the Great Wall was reconstructed during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, in order to prevent the invasion of Huns. Along the north of Wuwei, Zhangye and Jiuquan, the newly-built Great Wall is the connection of the new one and the old Great Wall built in Qin Dynasty; in addition, it also extends to Dunhuang in the west. At the western end of the Great Wall, two Passes were built, Yangguan Pass in the south, and Jade Gate Pass in the north, between which the distance is 70km. This layout was described in the history as '4 distributed counties, two important Passes'. Five km to the west of Jade Gate Pass, a part of the sand-and-stone Great Wall constructed in Han Dynasty is kept intact with bacon towers, 15 piles of woods for firing to warn the others. It is of great uniqueness in the country.