Dunhuang, known as Shazhou, a cultural city with a history of more than two thousand years. It is located in the vast Gobi in western Gansu, the westernmost part of the Hexi Corridor. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, with the opening of the Silk Road, Dunhuang entered its heyday, known as one of the "four counties of Heshi", and became a famous town on the ancient Silk Road, "Dun, big, Huang, Sheng also," which is a clear indication of its prominent position at that time.
The history of Dunhuang is a dream that lasts for thousands of years. Ancient scrolls, solemn Buddha's shadow, floating flying square, delicate music and dance posture ...... Dunhuang, a never-ending lack of legend of the mysterious world, waiting for those who love, love Dunhuang people to explore and discover. The Mogao Grottoes, the Crescent Springs, and the Yadan Geopark all show the world that Dunhuang is a vast and everlasting classic. The Mogao Grottoes are a treasure in the world of Chinese art and aesthetics, and a holy place for the art of mural painting in China. Some experts say that the sand is seriously eroding the Mogao Grottoes, Mogao Grottoes will disappear one day, it is already a thousand years old, there will be a thousand years? All of this drives Xiake into Dunhuang as early as possible one day to visit the millennium Mogao, dream Buddha Palace.
Along the Qinghai-Gansu Ring Road, from Dachaidan to Dunhuang, passing through the 3860 meters above sea level, "when the Jinshan Pass", from the green grassland to the vast Gobi Beach, feel the different landscapes of the Great Northwest. The first time I saw the movie, it was a very good one, and I think it was a very good one.
The first thing that caught my eye was the rolling Mingsha Mountain, a desert in the low-rise towers, the spirit of a trance, the mind flashed out of Wang Wei, "persuade the king to finish a glass of wine, the west out of the Yangguan no one," in the scene of the love of the parting of the world. Imagine how the Mogao Grottoes with its back is amazing.
25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City from the eastern foothills of the Mingsha Mountains on the cliffs, a long trestle will be large and small grottoes connected to the twists and turns, the four walls of the caves are all related to the Buddhist murals and colorful sculptures, dignified Buddha's shadow, the spirit of the flying sky ...... solemn and mysterious, breathtaking convergence. Here, is the world's largest treasure trove of Buddhist art - Mogao Grottoes.
Mogao Grottoes, also known as the "Thousand Buddha Caves", is one of China's three major grottoes art treasures, known as the 20th century's most valuable cultural discoveries. Mogao Grottoes is divided into upper and lower five layers, about 1600 meters long north and south. It was built in the first year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (366 A.D.). According to the record, a virtuous monk, Le Zun Zhuzhu, traveled west to this place, saw thousands of Buddhas shining and became enlightened, so he chiseled down the first grotto. From the sixteen countries to the Yuan Dynasty, the grottoes have been excavated along the ten dynasties for 1500 years, so far, Lezun's grotto has long been indistinguishable from the Mogao Grottoes through the sand erosion is still preserved more than 750 caves of the ten dynasties, caves mural paintings of forty-five thousand square meters, colorful sculpture of more than 3,000 bodies and five caves in the eaves of the Tang and Song dynasties wooden buildings. In addition, there are 40,000 to 50,000 pieces of handwritten documents and various cultural relics found in the Cangjing Cave, among which there are thousands of silk paintings, prints, embroideries and a large number of calligraphic works. If all the works of art one by one array up, it is a more than twenty-five kilometers long world's largest gallery.
The Mogao Grottoes are a comprehensive art temple consisting of architecture, painting, and sculpture, and are the world's largest and best-preserved repository of Buddhist art, known as the "Pearl of Oriental Art". In 1987, Mogao Grottoes was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, protected by the most important cultural relics.
From the city of Dunhuang to the southeast drive 30 minutes, closer and closer to the Mogao Grottoes, the mood inexplicably excited. Just under the car to come, a heat wave on the face, overhead above the blinding sunlight shines people can not open their eyes, everyone is almost sweating. Mogao Grottoes in front of the Dangquan River, the dry riverbed at both ends of the green, showing the tenacity of life.
Against the blazing heat of 38 degrees, through the stone bridge towards the Mogao Grottoes, inside the tall and straight poplar trees grow in clusters and clusters of hugs, which are connected to the root system, the crown of the trees, the fat leaves block the harsh sunlight, and bring a shade for pedestrians coming from afar.
Through the trees, the long and winding road connecting the large and small grottoes appeared in the field of vision, each grotto wall is nailed to a blue sign. Calm and solemn statue of Buddha, playing the pipa flying sky quietly stands in this one size, age of different caves, let the dust of history will bring them through the past and present to the modern us. Mogao Grottoes, the symbol of the building of the nine-story pagoda is after a thousand years of baptism is still towering.
Have traveled to many places, heartily appreciate the Mogao Grottoes tourism management. Here is by the Dunhuang Research Institute of professional guides to lead tourists to explain, they are uniformly dressed, very orderly. Each set of ten tourists, become a team, led by the guide into the scenic area, the guide to each person issued a receiving headset, so that everyone can clearly hear the explanation.
Hundreds of caves large and small, it is not possible to open each one of the tour, each day only open part of the cave, and each tour guide's tour route is different, so that staggered each team, so that the scenic area will not be congested and each visitor can better appreciate, but also protects cultural relics. Sometimes encounter usually rarely open the precious caves just that day open, that is good luck. We were lucky to visit nine caves.
That is what a great beauty ah, full of wall wind movement, Tianyi flying, the body of the soft flying sky so vividly in front of us. There are also caves in the solemn statue of Buddha, majestic and large, all highlighting the ancient level of skill, it is really a thousand years Dunhuang wall, the ancient world painting. These through a thousand years of time tunnel of the Buddha, murals subverted my vision, what is the power to drive those craftsmen to come here? That cave top of the algal well pattern is so wonderful, and the foot of the Western Xia stone tiles throughout the ages and by how many good men and women tread lightly?
Flying sky is serving the Buddha's Bodhisattva, can sing and dance, thousands of years ago, the craftsmen presented us with a beautiful ethereal world of imagination, the eye has seen these discoloration faded flying sky, suddenly sour, and those who have been a number of robbers stripped and stolen marks, it is more difficult to let a person's indignation. Nine-layer pagoda inside a 25-meter-high Buddha, the narrator said it was a rich family funded the construction of a year to build 1 meter, up to 25 years to build a good, if there is knowledge of the ground, the rich must be y gratified, perhaps he scattered millions of dollars of wealth, but in exchange for generations of later generations of admiration, and is now a priceless treasure.
Mogao Grottoes as a treasure trove of art, different eras of artistic styles gathered here into a colorful landscape. Dunhuang Tang Dynasty art represents the most brilliant era of Chinese Buddhist art, foreign art and Chinese national art blending, making Dunhuang Tang Dynasty art unprecedented colorful. The majestic and thick up to more than ten meters of the huge Buddha; dexterity and delicacy of only more than ten centimeters of the small bodhisattva; the scene is grand, the characters of the dense giant sutra change; image vivid, distinctive character of a single painting are all make a deep impression.
Most of the flying sky here out of the Tang Dynasty, they are colorful, vivid, not like the Greek winged angels, not like the ancient Indian clouds driving mist of the celestial maiden, Chinese artists with long straps to make them beautiful light female body flying in the sky. The "Pipa Bouncing" Flying Kabuki Bodhisattva painted in Cave 112 on the mural of "Variations on the Sutra of Immeasurable Life" is one of the most beautiful dances in Dunhuang art. Bouncing the pipa is actually playing music and dancing at the same time, showing the momentum in a split second during the "Bouncing the Pipa" maneuver. Flying Kabuki Bodhisattva holding a pipa, half-naked upper body flying, skirt like a swimming dragon playing phoenix, necklace armlets in the flying tinkling. Suddenly, she lifted her foot to the ground, an out of the crotch spinning body, making a "rebound pipa" stunts. Mogao Caves is not allowed to use a flashlight lighting, even cell phone lights can not be opened, the torch used by the interpreter are specially designed cold light, otherwise it will have an impact on the murals. Camera flash will have a very big damage to the frescoes. It is difficult for these well-trained interpreters to introduce as many Mogao treasures as possible to the tourists, but also to prevent some people full of intense curiosity to touch the murals with their hands, not to mention taking pictures secretly. Each group of tourists into the caves all gone after the last speaker will come out to lock the door and then continue to explain the next cave.
Because the visit to the cave is not allowed to take pictures. Xiake can only use the power of the network to the soft posture of the flying sky and solemn statue of Buddha added to this travelogue, I hope to let more friends understand this Chinese is also the world's art treasure trove.
Speaking of Mogao Grottoes, we have to mention a person. Her name is Fan Jinshi, born in the prosperous metropolis of Jiangnan woman, Peking University students, at the age of 25 years old came from a long way to the depths of the desert, from now on with the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes "together" for more than half a century.
This is a spiritual fit, a life encounter, but also a spiritual waiting. Today, fifty-two years later, Fan Jinshi's mouth of Wu Nong soft language has long been blown hard by the winds of the Northwest, but when it comes to the first time to see the beauty of Dunhuang, or eyes full of soft light. When she stood on the cool Gobi Desert, in front of the towering nine-story Mogao Caves, the beauty instantly jumped out, the beauty of Dunhuang, she couldn't let go. She went from being a young girl to having a full head of hair. She was ashamed of her family, her children, and herself, but she was not ashamed of Dunhuang. Mr. Ji Xianlin said that she sacrificed her whole life for Dunhuang, and that her merits were immeasurable. She said, "There is only one Dunhuang in the world, and if we don't protect it, we are all sinners of history.
In 1998, when she first became president of the Dunhuang Research Institute, the authorities planned to list the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. Fan Jinshi is anxious and resolute: Mogao Grottoes is the property of the state, the property of mankind, can not be taken to do business. She is not a small person, she ran around, explaining the fragile status of the Mogao Grottoes, repeatedly emphasized the importance of protection, and eventually a Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes listing storm finally subsided. Mogao Grottoes saved, but the situation is not optimistic. With the growing reputation, to the tourists flocked here, each visitor's arrival will affect the cave temperature, humidity, air changes, and this will accelerate the fading of the murals, salinization. The thought of stunning thousands of years of artistic treasures may be destroyed, Fan Jinshi can not sit still.
In 2003, the Mogao Grottoes in the country's first "tourism reservation system", the number of people into the cave to be controlled, many people do not understand, said Fan Jinshi money not to earn, especially stupid. But Fan Jinshi hard cross a heart: I see a lot of things in the world are stupid people do, no point silly spirit, is not to do things.
Limiting the number of people can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause, both want more people to appreciate the beauty of Dunhuang and shock, but also to protect the heritage is not easy to treasure, Fan Jinshi thought of using modern technology. Ten years, countless days and nights of perseverance and polishing, a world unique high-definition spherical screen movie "Dream Buddha Palace" came out, the movie is placed outside the cave, but the same way to let all people feel the Mogao Grottoes cave of the thousand years of the beauty of the surprise change. In April 2016, the website "Digital Dunhuang" went online. People around the world can enjoy 30 classic caves and 4,430 murals from the comfort of their computers. What's more, even if these treasures have passed through the ages, the images will always retain their splendor.
In the long journey to protect Dunhuang, there are countless people like Fan Jinshi, who, just because of that glance across the millennia, rooted the rest of their lives in the barren desert, turning their eyes to a lifetime. He (she) has and Dunhuang into one, used to the quiet and simple, used to the depth and nature, love has long been rooted in this yellow sand.
In this fickle society, there are still some people who spend their lives trying to keep the good things going. Indeed, a lot of great things in the world, it is this admirable "silly people" scholars to complete.
Farewell to the Mogao Grottoes, we continue to Dunhuang city five kilometers south of another special place, that is, the rolling Mingsha Mountain and the clear crescent moon spring. Sand springs *** place, the wonderful creation of heaven, throughout the ages to "desert wonders" known in the world.
Mingsha Mountain, sandy peaks undulating, mountain like a gnarled dragon winding, golden, like a golden mountain. Mingsha Mountain was once known as "Shajiao Mountain". At the edge of the Tengger Desert, and Ningxia Zhongwei County, Shapotou, Inner Mongolia Dalate Banner of the resounding sandy bay and Xinjiang Barkun Kazakh Autonomous County within the town of Barkun as one of China's four major mingsha mountain.
To come to the Mingsha Mountain, you must ride on a camel to walk on a round to personally feel the desert luxury. Here the camel caravan only allows six people a team, in front of the guide holding the head of the camel peak. Sitting on the back of a soft camel, traveling deeper into the desert.
The fine yellow sand is blown by the breeze ripples, people like in the sand sea through. The blue sky above my head, the yellow sand in my eyes, and the eye-catching green color on the distant sand ridge were so colorful that they hit my eyeballs clearly. Life should have such an experience, in the desert in the yellow sand to listen to the camel bells tinkling, in the vastness of the Gobi, let the mind travel outside the world, in the vastness of the world in the insight into the nature of the divine great.
In order to tourists' safety, these guides also act as a professional photographer, ready for every one of the tourists to Mingsha Mountain to frame the most beautiful moments. On the way, a bag placed upside down in the desert aroused our curiosity, the original is cleaned up by the staff loaded camel dung at any time. Every Northwesterner working in the scenic area is making a small contribution to the protection of this desert.
In the Mingsha Mountain peaks surrounded by a green basin, there is a large blue water shaped like a curved moon, which is the crescent moon spring. Historically, water and fire are incompatible, desert springs difficult to **** survival. But the crescent moon spring is like a crescent moon falling in the yellow sand.
A bend in the spring, ripples back, blue as emerald, in the embrace of the sandy mountains quietly lying thousands of years, although often attacked by stormy sands, but still blue ripples, the sound of water gurgling! Spring in the quicksand, drought does not dry up, wind-blown sand does not fall, quite a spectacle. Generations of scholars and writers on this unique mountain springs landscape, desert wonders marveled.
Mingsha Mountain, Crescent Springs, where the yellow sand and clear springs next to each other, the ancients have a poem sung: "clear blue sky blue sky, the beauty of the world's Crescent Springs. Surrounded by mountains on all sides, a pool of clear water with green ripples!" Mingsha Mountain, the crescent moon spring and the Mogao Caves art landscape into one, is Dunhuang city south of a vein connected to the "two great", and become China and even the world's people aspire to the tourist attractions.
Back to the crescent moon clarified as a mirror, holding up the yellow sand, facing the breeze high up, in this Mianliu ancient and modern crescent moon spring side of the drunken sleep. Dunhuang, the temple of culture, the human Dunhuang, a dream full of people's holy land, about which the story has a long history, perhaps a turn, has been a thousand years.