#Mogao Caves Hidden Guide

A millennium-old art museum hidden in the desert, where every painting is the heartbeat of civilization

"One Glance Through Three Thousand Years" — Dunhuang Fantasy Journey
Recommended duration: 3 days 2 nights
Suitable for: History buffs / Photography enthusiasts / Artsy youth / Those wanting to escape the city

Day 1: Fly into the isolated island of civilization in the sea of sand

Fly directly to Dunhuang Airport, Gansu. The moment you land—
The wind is dry, the sky is blue, and in the distance, Mingsha Mountain lies like a golden dragon coiled up to sleep.

Check into a wild luxury guesthouse by Crescent Lake, open the window to a starry sky and sand dunes.
In the evening, walk to Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Lake, ride a camel up the dunes to watch the sunset—
Camel bells jingling, yellow sand flowing, as if you can hear Zhang Qian’s footsteps on his mission to the Western Regions.

🌙 Spend the night in a desert tent, with the Milky Way overhead.
No Wi-Fi, but the stars are fully charged.

Day 2: Step into the Mogao Caves, one look and you’ll be moved to tears

The main event is here—
Mogao Caves, the top of the world’s four great grottoes, China’s most beautiful art treasury.

Book tickets one month in advance! (Category A ticket 238 RMB, includes digital film + guided tour of 8 caves)

Here are the highlights:

Cave 220: The pinnacle of Tang Dynasty murals! Flying apsaras dancing gracefully, music and dance scenes, colors that have not faded for a thousand years.
“This is not paint, it’s light mixed from faith.”

Cave 45: The most beautiful Guanyin is here. Her expression is so compassionate it instantly calms you.
Some people have stood in front of this statue and cried for ten minutes.

Cave 17 (Library Cave): Originally held 50,000 Tang and Song dynasty manuscripts, but was sold to Stein by Taoist Wang...
One scripture might be a lost unique copy for a thousand years.
Standing at the entrance, you’ll ask yourself:
“If no one had opened it that day, would we have been luckier?”

In the afternoon, watch the live show "See Dunhuang Again"—
It’s not a history play, it lets you “walk into history.”
You’ll brush past Han envoys, painters, monks, and suddenly understand:
Civilization is the faint light guarded by countless ordinary people throughout their lives.

Day 3: Be a “Silk Road traveler” for a day

Early morning visit to the Yangguan Ruins, stand before the stele inscribed “No old friends west of Yangguan,” drink a farewell wine,
and shout to the desert: “I’m here!”

Then go to Yumenguan Pass to see the desolate beauty where “the spring breeze does not pass.”
The distant Han Great Wall is now just earthen mounds, yet it stubbornly stretches across the Gobi.

Dress in Han or Hu clothing for photos, post on social media:
“Today’s identity: Intern at the Tang Dynasty Painting Academy / Silk Road trader”
Likes will easily break a hundred.

Must-try local foods:

Donkey meat yellow noodles: Dunhuang’s top snack, chewy yellow noodles with fragrant stewed donkey meat
Apricot peel tea: Made by locals from dried Li Guang apricots, sweet and sour to cool you down
Niangpi (cold skin noodles) + lamb paomo (bread soaked in mutton soup): So good you’ll want to lick the bowl clean

Why must you visit Dunhuang at least once?

Because this is not just a tourist spot, it’s a backup of Chinese civilization.

When Chang’an was destroyed and Luoyang was engulfed in war,
these caves quietly preserved deep in the desert
Buddhist art, the evolution of Chinese characters, Silk Road trade, ethnic integration...

More than a thousand years later, we can still see through the murals:
The skirts of Tang dynasty girls dancing
Persian merchants leading camel caravans
Little monks secretly drawing a smiling graffiti face in a corner

They don’t say a word, yet they tell the whole story of China.