Tang Dynasty is one of the most powerful and prosperous king doms in the history of China. Central Plains of China and the Western Regions entered into a grand unification. In the first 100 years of Tang Dynasty its prosperity allowed it to reach an unprecedented height in the exchange and communication with the outside world. Contemporary historians both in China and abroad call Tang Dynasty "an open empire" and Chang'an "a capital of the world." Traders of Persia, priests of Rome, sailors of Arabia, and students of Japan, as well as Bud?dhist and Islamic scholars, all of them gathered in China. Because of rapid development of its economy, China's trade exchange with the Western Regions and beyond increased a great deal during the period. A golden era in the history of the Silk Road started with the arrival of Tang Dynasty.

Dunhuang: A Metropolis of Sino-foreign Integration

  Hexi Corridor was a famous route from ancient China's northern-western continent to the rest of Asia and Europe. It was a battlefield to guard and protect the Silk Road 2,000 years ago. Here happened many heroic historic events. After having won its wars against Hun, Han Dy?nasty instituted four counties in the Hexi Corridor from 121 BC to in BC They were: Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang.

  Dunhuang, situated at the western part of the Hexi Corridor, was a strategically important city and a hub of international trade. It was a interjunction to the northern and southern section of the Silk Road. The Western Regions, Tutian and Kizil in particular, were deeply influenced by Indian Buddhist culture. Dunhuang, as the gate to the Western Regions, was the first to receive the Indian influence and became one of China's early Buddhism centers. In Dunhuang there were many Buddhist temples. In Tang Dynasty, there were at least 16 grand Buddhist temples in the city of Dunhuang with a total of more than 900 monks.

  Buddhists not only built temples, but also excavated caverns, molding the figures of Buddha and drawing mural paintings on the cave walls.

  They were many craftsmen, officials and devotees to Buddha, who spent their life to created the art of Dunhuang. In this way, the Dunhuang Buddhist arts were gradually took its current shape. Dunhuang was also the center of translating the China's early Buddhist literature. The scholars of Buddhism translated numerous Buddhism classics. In AD 1899, in Dunhaung Thousand-Buddha Caves discovered more than 30,000 volumes of ancient books, hand-copied or block-printed, most of them were Buddhist classics.

  Dunhuang, as a city of international culture exchange, also in their mural paintings recorded Chinese and visitors interacting in their ordinary daily life.For example, during the period of Three Kingdom, it was a fashion for women in Dunhuang wear Indian-styled costumes.
  Desert is spacious, boundless and monotonous, but 10 kilometers to the south of Dunhuang there is a place called Singing Sand Mountain. It is a place full of fascinating natural phenomena: When the wind is blowing, the Mountain sends out the sound of roaring thunder. Ancient people were surprised at this phenomenon and called it the Divine Sand Mountain. In the Mountain there is a Crescent Fountain. Thousand years elapsed, but the Singing Sand Mountain is still staying where it was. Each year at the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, boys and girls in the city of Dunhuang go in groups to the Singing Sand Mountain and the Crescent Fountain.