Mogao Caves*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	China
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi
Reference	440
Region†	Asia-Pacific
Inscription History
Inscription	1987  (11th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

The Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes (Chinese: 莫高窟; Pinyin: mò gāo kū) form a system of 492 temples 25km (15.5 miles) from the center of Dunhuang, in Gansu province, China. They are also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, Qianfodong (Chinese: 千佛洞; Pinyin: qiān fó dòng) [1], or the Dunhuang Caves. The use of the word "cave" is a bit of a misnomer, since these are not natural, but instead examples of rock-cut architecture. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1360x1020, 388 KB) Summary Mogao Caves This image was take by User:Yaohua2000 at 2006-04-24 07:01:05 UTC. Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Mogao Caves Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added... As of 2006, there are a total of 830 World Heritage Sites located in 138 State Parties. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Peoples_Republic_of_China. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... This is a list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Asia, Australia and the Pacific (Australasia). ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Location of Dunhuang Dunhuang (Chinese: , also written as 燉煌 till early Qing Dynasty; Pinyin: ) is a city in Jiuquan, Gansu province, China. ... Gansu (Simplified Chinese: 甘肃; Traditional Chinese: 甘肅; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kan-su, Kansu, or Kan-suh) is a province located in the northwest of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Rock cut architecture refers to the practice of creating buildings, temples, etc. ...

History

Local legend says that in 366 CE the Buddhist monk Lezun (樂尊) had a vision of a thousand Buddhas and convinced a wealthy Silk Road pilgrim to fund the first of the temples. The temples eventually grew to number more than a thousand. From the 4th until the 14th century, Buddhist monks at Dunhuang collected scriptures from the west, and many pilgrims passed through the area, painting murals inside the caves. The murals cover 450,000 square feet (42,000 m²). The caves were walled off sometime around the 11th century, after they had become a dumping ground for old, damaged or used manuscripts; the documents were still sacred, and it has been suggested that: Events January 2, Alamanni cross frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading Roman Empire October 1 - Pope Damasus I becomes Bishop of Rome. ... Media:Example. ... The Silk Road Silk Route redirects here. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... Monument to pilgrims in Burgos, Spain This article is on religious pilgrims. ... Salle des illustres, ceiling painting, by Jean André Rixens. ...

The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes, and along with Longmen and Yungang are one of the three famous ancient sculptural sites of China. The Tripitaka (Sanskrit त्रिपिटक, lit. ... The Longmen Grottoes (ch. ... Categories: Chinese Buddhist Grottoes | World Heritage Sites in China | Stub ...

The travel of Zhang Qian to the West, Mogao caves, 618-712 CE.

Buddhist monks valued austerity in life, and they hoped that remote caves would aid their quest for enlightenment. The paintings served as aids to meditation, as visual representations of their quest for enlightenment, and as tools to inform illiterate Chinese about Buddhist beliefs and stories. The travel of Zhang Qian to the West. ... The travel of Zhang Qian to the West. ... Zhang Qian (張騫) was an imperial envoy in the 2nd century BCE, during the time of the Han Dynasty. ... Bodhi (Pali and Sanskrit. ... A large statue in Bangalore depicting Shiva meditating Meditation describes a state of concentrated attention on some object of thought or awareness. ...

A complete view of the painting.

Around 1900, a Chinese Taoist named Wang Yuan-lu appointed himself guardian of some of these temples. Wang discovered walled up behind one side of a corridor leading to a main cave a small cave which was stuffed with an enormous hoard of manuscripts (all dating from between 406 and 1002 CE: old Chinese hemp paper scrolls, old Tibetan scrolls, paintings on hemp or silk or paper, many damaged figurines of Buddhas, and other Buddhist paraphernalia. The subject matter is diverse: the expected Buddhist canonical works are joined by original commentaries, apocryphal works, workbooks, books of prayers, Confucian works, Taoist works, Nestorian Christian works, works from the Chinese government, administrative documents, anthologies, glossaries, dictionaries, calligraphic exercises etc. Image File history File links DunhuangCave323. ... Image File history File links DunhuangCave323. ... For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... Categories: Religion stubs | Taoists ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ... Apocrypha (from the Greek word απόκρυφα meaning those having been hidden away[1]) are texts of uncertain authenticity or writings where the authorship is questioned. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... The term Nestorianism is eponymous, even though the person who lent his name to it always denied the associated belief. ...

Rumors of this discovery brought several European expeditions by 1910: a joint British/Indian group led by Aurel Stein (who took hundreds of copies of the Diamond Sutra because he was unable to read Chinese); a French expedition under Paul Pelliot; a Japanese expedition under Otani Kozui which arrived after the Chinese government's forces; and a Russian expedition under Sergei F. Oldenburg which garnered the least of all. Pelloit was interested in the more unusual and exotic of Wang's manuscripts, such as documents dealing with the administration and financing of the monastery and associated lay men's groups which survived only because they formed a sort of palimpsest in which Buddhist texts (which were why they were preserved) were written on the other side of the paper. The remaining Chinese manuscripts were sent to Peking (Beijing) at the order of the Chinese government (the mass of Tibetan manuscripts remained). Sir M(arc) Aurel Stein (1862 - 1943), born in Budapest, was a Hungarian Jewish archaeologist who became a British citizen. ... The Chinese Diamond Sutra, the oldest known dated printed book in the world, printed in the 9th year of Xiantong Era of the Tang Dynasty, i. ... Pelliot examines manuscripts in the Mogao Caves Paul Pelliot (May 28, 1878–October 26, 1945) was a French sinologist and explorer of Central Asia. ... A palimpsest is a manuscript page, scroll, or book that has been written on, scraped off, and used again. ... Beijing (Chinese: 北京; pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ;  ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...

Wang embarked on an ambitious refurbishment of the temples, funded in part by soliciting donations from neighboring towns, and in part by donations from Stein and Pelliot.

Today, the site is an important tourist attraction and the subject of an ongoing archaeological project.

The Mogao Caves became one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1987. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... Elabana Falls is in Lamington National Park, part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves World Heritage site in Queensland, Australia. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ...

Notice to Visitors

A close-up of the fresco describing Emperor Han Wudi (156 – 87 BCE) worshipping two statues of the Buddha, Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, c. 700 CE.

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1360x1020, 380 KB) Summary Mogao Caves Notice to Visitors This image was taken by User:Yaohua2000 at 2006-04-24 06:56:50 UTC. Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Mogao Caves Metadata This file contains additional... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1360x1020, 380 KB) Summary Mogao Caves Notice to Visitors This image was taken by User:Yaohua2000 at 2006-04-24 06:56:50 UTC. Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Mogao Caves Metadata This file contains additional... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (643x974, 578 KB)8th century frescoe at Mogao Caves near Dunhuang in the Tarim Basin. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (643x974, 578 KB)8th century frescoe at Mogao Caves near Dunhuang in the Tarim Basin. ... Emperor Wu of Han (156 BC*–March 29, 87 BC), personal name Liu Che, was the sixth emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty, ruling from 141 BC to 87 BC. A military compaigner, Han China reached its greatest expansion under his reign, spanning from Kyrgyzstan in the west, Northern... Media:Example. ... Location of Dunhuang Dunhuang (Chinese: , also written as 燉煌 till early Qing Dynasty; Pinyin: ) is a city in Jiuquan, Gansu province, China. ...

Mogao Caves in popular culture

• The Mogao manuscript trove forms the backdrop of the plotline of the Japanese movie The Silk Road (1988, English subtitles), adapted from a 1959 novel by Yasushi Inoue.
• One of the stories from the caves were adapted into a Chinese animation in 1981 titled a A Deer of Nine Colors.
• Barbara Wright mentions the Mogao Caves in the Doctor Who serial Marco Polo.

Yasushi Inoue (井上 靖 Inoue Yasushi, May 6, 1907 – January 29, 1992) was a Japanese writer whose range of genres included poetry, essays, short fiction, and novels. ... This page is about the development of animation and comic industry in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. ... A Deer of Nine Colors (Chinese: 九色鹿) is a Chinese animated film produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio. ... Barbara Wright is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. ... Doctor Who is a long-running award-winning British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The series depicts the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor who explores time and space in his TARDIS time ship with his companions, solving problems and righting wrongs. ... Marco Polo is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in 7 weekly parts from February 22 to April 4, 1964. ...

See also

• Buddhism in China
• Jesus Sutras
• Rock-cut architecture

Shakyamuni Buddha teaching. ... The Jesus Sutras, or the Lost Sutras of Jesus are early Chinese language manuscripts of Christian teachings brought to China during the 7th century by Alopen, a Persian bishop of the Assyrian Church of the East. ... Rock cut architecture refers to the practice of creating buildings, temples, etc. ...

References

• Akira, Fujieda, "The Tun-Huan Manuscripts", in Essays on the sources for Chinese history (1973). edited by Donald D. Leslie, Colin Mackerras, and Wang Gungwu. Australian National University, ISBN 0-87249-329-6
• Hopkirk, Peter. Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia (1980). Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-435-8.

The Australian National University, or ANU, is a public university located in Canberra, the national capital of Australia. ...

Gallery

A painting of Xuanzang performing ceremonies for the Buddha Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (775x949, 562 KB) 唐僧礼佛图，来自敦煌壁画。 A painting of Xuanzang, the Monk of Tang, performing ceremonies (?) for the Buddha. ...

Trade on the Silk Road Image File history File linksMetadata Trade_in_silkroad. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Mogao Caves

• Introduction of the arts (mostly Buddhist arts) of the Mogao Caves with images
• A large collections of images of murals and other artifacts from the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang
• International Dunhuang Project
• Travel China Guide: Dunhuang Caves

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World Heritage Sites in China

Building Complex in Wudang Mountains · Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom · Classical Gardens of Suzhou · Dazu Rock Carvings · Ensemble of the Potala Palace · Great Wall · Huanglong · Imperial Palaces in Beijing and Shenyang · Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties · Jiuzhaigou Valley · Kaiping Diaolou and Villages · Lijiang · Longmen Grottoes · Lushan National Park · Historic Centre of Macau · Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor · Mogao Caves · Mount Emei and Leshan Giant Buddha · Mount Huangshan · Mount Qingcheng and Dujiangyan Irrigation System · Mount Tai (Taishan) · Mount Wuyi · Chengde Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples · Peking Man Site, Zhoukoudian · Ping Yao · Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries · South China Karst · Summer Palace · Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and Kong Family Mansion, Qufu · Temple of Heaven · Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas · Villages in Southern Anhui (Xidi and Hongcun) · Wulingyuan · Yinxu · Yungang Grottoes Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... Several Buddhist terms and concepts lack direct translations into English that cover the breadth of the original term. ... Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z The following is a List of Buddhist topics: A Abhidharma Ahimsa Ajahn Ajahn Chah Ajanta Aksobhya Alexandra David-Néel... The History of Buddhism spans from the 6th century BCE to the present, starting with the birth of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. ... 563 BCE: Siddhārtha Gautama, Buddha-to-be, is born in Lumbini, Ancient India. ... There are many divisions and subdivisions of the schools of Buddhism. ... There are a great variety of Buddhist texts. ... Buddhism - Percentage by country The percentage of Buddhist population of each country was taken from the US State Departments International Religious Freedom Report 2004 [1]. Other sources used were CIA Factbook [2] and adherents. ... The cultural elements of Buddhism vary by region and include: Buddhist cuisine Buddhist art Buddharupa Art and architecture of Japan Greco-Buddhism Tibetan Buddhist sacred art Buddhist music Buddhist chant Shomyo Categories: Buddhism-related stubs ... Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya Buddhist temples, monasteries, stupas, and pagodas sorted by location. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... wudang or wudangquan, see Wudangquan. ... Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom lie in Jian, Jilin and its approximities. ... Suzhou (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; ancient name: 吳) is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. ... External link UNESCO World Heritage Centre page Categories: World Heritage Sites in China | Chinese Buddhist Grottoes | China geography stubs ... The Potala Palace located in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India after a failed uprising in 1959. ... A section of the Great Wall near Beijing during winter The course of the Great Wall is shown in this map dated from 1805 The Great Wall (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: , literally long city wall) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built between 5th century... 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The Longmen Grottoes (ch. ... The small peaks of the mountain range can be climbed by visitors. ... The ruins of the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Macau A view of Largo do Senado (Senado Square), part of the Historic Centre of Macao The Historic Centre of Macao (Portuguese: ; Traditional Chinese: ), on Macao Peninsula, is composed of sites that showcase the unique cultural heritage of Macao. ... The Terracotta Army (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; literally soldier and horse funerary statues) or Terracotta Warriors and Horses is a collection of 8,099 life-size Chinese terra cotta figures of warriors and horses located near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ). The figures were discovered... Location within China Mount Emei (峨眉山, pinyin Éméi Shān, Wade-Giles O2-mei2 Shan1, literally Delicate Eyebrow Mountain) is a mountain in Sichuan province of Western China. ... The Leshan Giant Buddha (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is the tallest stone Buddha statue in the world. ... The Huang Shan (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Yellow Mountain) is a mountain range in southern Anhui province in eastern China. ... Mount Qingcheng is a mountain in Guanxian, Sichuan, China. ... Du Jiang Yan (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is an irrigation infastucture built in 256 BC during the Warring States Period of China by the Kingdom of Qin. ... Mount Tai (Chinese: æ³°å±±; pinyin: ) is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Taian, in Shandong Province, China. ... The Wuyi Mountains (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) are a mountain range located at the northern border of Fujian province with Jiangxi province, China. ... Mountain Resort, Chengde Mountain Resort, Chengde The Mountain Resort in Chengde (Chinese: 避暑山庄; pinyin: BìshÇ” Shānzhuāng; literally: Mountain Resort for Avoiding the Heat; Manchu: HalhÅ«n be jailara gurung) or Ligong (Chinese: 离宫; pinyin: Lígōng, the Qing Dynastys summer palace) situated in the city of Chengde... The Putuo Zongcheng ticket to the summer resort (1984) Chengde (Chinese: ; pinyin: Chéngdé; Manchu: Erdemu be aliha fu) is a city approximately one hundred miles northeast of Beijing in northeastern Hebei province, situated near the Luan River. ... Trinomial name Homo erectus pekinensis (Black, 1927) Peking Man (sometimes now called Beijing Man), also called Sinanthropus pekinensis (currently Homo erectus pekinensis), is an example of Homo erectus. ... Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site - the Caves (taken in July 2004) Zhoukoudian or Choukoutien (周口店) is a cave system near Beijing in China. ... Pingyao (平遥, pinyin: Píngyáo) is a Chinese county in central Shanxi province. ... The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries (Chinese: 四川大熊貓棲息地) located in southwest Sichuan province of China, is the home to more than 30% of the worlds highly endangered Giant Pandas. ... The South China Karst spread across Chinas southern provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan. ... The Summer Palace in Beijing. ... Confucius (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kung-fu-tzu, lit. ... Qufu (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chü1-fu4) is a city in Shandong Province, China. ... Hall of Annual Prayer, the largest building in the Temple of Heaven The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven (Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , pinyin: Tiāntán; Manchu: Abkai mukdehun) is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in southeastern urban Beijing, in Xuanwu District. ... Terraces part way up the sides of the Tiger Leaping Gorge View of the gorge from the high path, showing Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on the left, and Haba Snow Mountain on the right. ... XÄ«dì (Chinese: 西递; pinyin: , also Xidi, or Xi Di, literally West Post), is a village in southern Anhui province (Yixian County), in China, which was declared a part of the Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000, along with the village of Hongcun. ... Hongcun (宏村, pinyin: HóngcÅ«n) is a village in Yixian county, Anhui province (Yixian County), located near the southwest slope of Mount Huangshan, in China. ... The sandstone pillars of Wulingyuan extend hundreds of meters over the valley floor. ... Yinxu, the ruins of Yin, the capital (1350 - 1046 BC) of the Shang (Yin) Dynasty. ... The Yungang Grottoes (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) are ancient Buddhist temple grottoes near the city of Datong in the Chinese province of Shanxi. ...