The history of Dunhuang

Dunhuang has a long history and splendid culture. As early as the end of primitive society, the Sanmiao people who were moved to Hexi after the failure of the tribal war in the Central Plains thrived here. They mainly hunted and began to master primitive agricultural production techniques.

During the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, Dunhuang belonged to the ancient Guazhou area, and there were descendants of the Sanmiao people. At that time, the Qiangrong people settled here as nomads. Many rock paintings left by nomads were discovered in the Dunhuang area.

During the Warring States and Qin Dynasties, the Dayuezhi, Wusun and Sezhong people lived in Dunhuang. Later, the Dayue clan became stronger and annexed the original Qiang Rong. At the end of the Warring States Period, the Dayuezhi people drove away the Wusun and Sezhong people and monopolized Dunhuang until the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty.

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the Huns invaded Hexi and defeated the Yuezhi twice, forcing the Yuezhi people to migrate westward to the two river basins (Sir Darya River and Amu Darya River). The entire Hexi Corridor is the territory of the Xiongnu, known as "more than 300,000 people who control strings". After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, in the second year of Jianyuan (138 BC), he sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the Western Regions for the first time to contact the Yuezhi and Wusun to attack the Xiongnu. In the second year of Yuanding of the Han Dynasty (115 BC), Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions for the second time and opened the Silk Road to the Western Regions.

The Silk Road of the Han Dynasty started from Chang'an, passed through the Hexi Corridor to Dunhuang, and then left Yumenguan and Yangguan, along the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains and the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and was divided into two roads, the north and the south. The southern line starts from Dunhuang, passes through Loulan, crosses Congling to Anxi, and reaches Daqin (ancient Rome) in the west; the northern line starts from Dunhuang, passes through Gaochang, Qiuci, and crosses Congling to Dawan. During the Han and Tang Dynasties, a new road was opened along the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, from Dunhuang through Hami, Barkol Lake, across the Ili River, and to Fulin Kingdom (Eastern Roman Empire). During the Han and Song Dynasties, the Silk Road was an important transportation route to the West, and Dunhuang became a shining pearl on the Silk Road.

Along the Silk Road, China's silk and advanced technology continued to spread westward to Central Asia, West Asia and even Europe, and products from the Western Regions also spread to the Central Plains. Along the Silk Road, there was an endless stream of envoys, soldiers, merchants, and monks from various countries, and Dunhuang became the "throat key" and the hub of the Silk Road, becoming the center and transit station for Sino-Western trade. Hu merchants from the Western Regions and Han merchants from the Central Plains gathered here to trade silk and porcelain from the Central Plains, treasures from the Western Regions, camels and horses from the north, and local grain. At the same time, the culture of the Central Plains, Buddhism, West Asia and Central Asia continued to spread to Dunhuang. Different cultures from China and the West gathered, collided and blended here, making Dunhuang become "a metropolis where Huarong meets Huarong", a gathering of humanities and culture. Charmingly, these prosperous scenes are vividly recorded on the murals on the top of Cave 296 of the Mogao Grottoes.

In the second year of Yuanshou, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established Jiuquan County and Wuwei County in Hexi. In the sixth year of Yuanding in the Han Dynasty (111 BC), Jiuquan and Wuwei counties were split into Dunhuang and Zhangye counties respectively. The Great Wall and beacons were built from Lingju (today's Yongdeng) through Dunhuang to Yanze (today's Lop Nur), and Yangguan and Yumenguan were set up to ensure the smooth flow of the Silk Road. Dunhuang became the "throat key" for transportation between China and the West. At that time, Dunhuang had a vast territory and governed six counties. It reaches Longle Yangguan in the west, Yuanquan (west of today's Yumen City) in the east, Yiwu (now Hami City) in the north, and Xiqiang (now Qaidam, Qinghai Province) in the south. It is known as "the handover of Huarong. It will also be a metropolis."

Feudal regimes such as Qianliang, Houliang, Southern Liang, Xiliang, and Northern Liang were successively established in the Hexi region during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. During the Zhang Jun period of the Former Liang Dynasty, Dunhuang was renamed Shazhou. In 400 AD, Li Hao took over Dunhuang and proclaimed himself king and established the Xiliang Kingdom. Dunhuang became the capital for the first time in history and later fell to Northern Liang. Liangzhou has become the cultural center of northern China, and Dunhuang is the center of Liangzhou culture, with many celebrities and scholars from generation to generation.

During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, heroes competed in the Central Plains, and Hexi became a relatively stable area. Confucian scholars and common people from the Central Plains fled to Hexi for refuge, bringing advanced culture and production technology with them. Buddhism introduced during the Han and Wei dynasties flourished unprecedentedly in Dunhuang. Dunhuang is the channel and gateway for the spread of Buddhism to the east, and is also the center of Buddhism in the Hexi region. There is Zhu Fahu, a master translator who has lived in Dunhuang for a long time; there is Song Yun, a Dunhuang native who went to India to study Buddhism; and so on. Buddhist masters such as Faxian and Kumarajiva left their footprints in Dunhuang no matter whether they moved eastward or westward. In the second year of Jianyuan of the former Qin Dynasty (366), monk Lezun opened the first grotto for Buddha in the Daquan Valley under Sanwei Mountain, and the Mogao Grottoes were born.

The Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed Beiliang, unified the north, and occupied the Hexi. During this period, Dunhuang was relatively stable, people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and Buddhism became popular. With the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, Mingsha County was renamed Dunhuang County. Together with their tribes, they migrated to Dunhuang. The culture of the Northern and Southern Han Dynasties merged in Dunhuang, making the local culture of Dunhuang more distinctive. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty believed in Buddhism and ordered several states to build stupas. Dunhuang. Under the initiative of the supreme ruler, in the 37 years of the Sui Dynasty, 77 caves were opened in the Mogao Grottoes. They were large in scale, with exquisite murals and painted sculptures, and two completely different artistic styles from the north and the south.

Dunhuang in the Tang Dynasty, like the rest of the country, was highly prosperous economically and culturally, and Buddhism flourished. There were more than 1,000 caves in Mogao Grottoes, and 232 caves have been preserved to this day, all of which have reached an extremely high artistic level. In the 19th year of Zhenguan (AD 645), Tang Xuanzang returned to India to study Buddhist scriptures and returned to Chang'an via Dunhuang. A large number of murals from the Tubo period are preserved in the Mogao Grottoes. .

The "Anshi Rebellion" caused the Tang Dynasty to turn from prosperity to decline. Tubo took advantage of the situation and occupied Hexi and ruled for more than 70 years.

In the second year of Dazhong reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (848), the people of Dunhuang could not bear the Tubo rule. Zhang Yichao led a crowd to launch an uprising in Hexi, drove away the Tibetan nobles, regained their old land in Hexi, and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. He was granted the title of Jiedu Envoy of the Eleven Prefectures of Hexi and Hehuang, and was assigned to the rebel army to govern Shazhou. Later, Zhang Yichao's grandson Zhang Chengfeng rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and established the "Jinshan Kingdom" on his own, but was defeated by the Uighurs. In 914, the Kingdom of Jinshan was destroyed and Zhang's heirs were extinct. Cao Yijin, the governor of Shasha, took charge of the Jiedu envoy. During the reign of the Cao family, he won over local prominent families, developed production, promoted education, and improved relations with surrounding ethnic groups, thus maintaining stability and tranquility in Hexi. During this period, the construction of the Mogao Grottoes was still in progress and was not affected by the changes in the situation.

At the beginning of the 11th century, the Dangxiang tribe emerged, dominated Hexi, and established the Xixia Dynasty, forming a tripartite confrontation with the Song and Liao Dynasties. During the more than 100 years that Xixia ruled Dunhuang, it attached great importance to economic development, allowing Dunhuang to maintain a level of prosperity that was no different from that of the Central Plains since the Han Dynasty. The rulers of Xixia believed in Buddhism, did not reject Han culture, and made great progress in culture and art. According to statistics, during the Song and Xia dynasties, Japan dug 100 caves. To this day, Mogao Grottoes and Yulin Grottoes preserve a large amount of rich and unique Western Xia Buddhist art. The "Dunhuang Posthumous Notes" were sealed in Cave 17 of the Mogao Grottoes during the reign of Xixia (1036).

In 1227, the Mongolian army destroyed Xixia and conquered Shazhou and other places. The Hexi area was owned by the Yuan Dynasty. Dunhuang was promoted to Shazhou Road and belonged to Gansu Xingzhongshu Province. Later, he was promoted to the general manager of Shazhou. The Yuan Dynasty's expedition to the west had to pass through Dunhuang. Dunhuang once showed a prosperous economy and culture, and trade with the Western Regions became more frequent. The famous Italian traveler Marco Polo traveled to various parts of the Central Plains via Dunhuang during this period. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty also believed in Buddhism. The construction of Mogao Grottoes continued. There are about 10 Yuan Dynasty caves in existence. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang sent troops to pacify Hexi, built Jiayuguan Pass, the Ming Great Wall, and rebuilt Suzhou City. In order to strengthen the defense of the northwest frontier, the Kansai Seven Guards were established. In the third year of Yongle (1405), Shazhou Guard was established in Dunhuang. Later, Turpan captured Hami and Dunhuang faced threats. The Ming Dynasty also set up Handong Left Guard in the ancient city of Shazhou. In the eleventh year of Zhengde (1516), Dunhuang was occupied by Turpan. In the third year of Jiajing (1524), the Ming Dynasty ordered the closure of Jiayuguan Pass, moved the civilians of Guanxi into the pass, and abandoned the two prefectures of Gua and Sha. For the next two hundred years, Dunhuang was unstructured, wars continued for years, people were displaced, and the countryside gradually became deserted. Dunhuang gradually declined, becoming a desert place where the wind spreads the sky and the willows spread thousands of miles away, and the moon shines on the quicksand for another day.

In the late Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty gradually recovered the vast area outside Jiayuguan Pass. In the third year of Yongzheng's reign (1725), the Shazhou Guard was established in Dunhuang and began to immigrate 2,400 households from all over Gansu to reclaim wasteland and settle in Dunhuang. At the same time, a large number of soldiers and civilians were moved to Turpan and Lop Nur in the Shazhou area. By the end of Yongzheng's reign, Shazhou had more than 100,000 acres of cultivated land, and 10 canals of water were diverted from the Dang River for irrigation. Agriculture was rapidly restored and developed, forming a Gobi oasis in the western part of the Hexi Corridor. In the 25th year of Qianlong's reign (1760), Shazhouwei was promoted to Dunhuang County and was under the direct jurisdiction of Anxi until the Revolution of 1911.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Dunhuang has been the seat of the county capital. In 1986, it was named a "Famous Historical and Cultural City in China" by the State Council. In 1987, with the approval of the State Council, the county was removed and Dunhuang City was established.

In December 2014, Gansu’s urban system planning solicited opinions from the society and Dunhuang planned to be upgraded to a prefecture-level city.