Mogao Grottoes, also called Thousand Buddha Caves, is situated in the city of Dunhuang in Gansu Province. It is the pearl of the Silk Road. Since the Han Dynasty it has been an important gateway to the West and a culture bridge between China and the Western countries. Mogao Grottoes is the best preserved Buddhist art treasures in the world. In 1987, it was listed as World Cultural Heritage.

Legend goes that when a monk traveled here, he saw golden light shining on Mingsha Mountain and there were thousands of Buddhas under showers of golden rays. Then the Mogao Grottoes was begun to build about in 366AD.

It is about 1600 meters high with five floors and in the shape of a honeycomb loft. It is a wonderful art palace with ancient buildings, sculptures, murals, particularly famous for the colorful murals to the world. There are about seven basic kinds of murals: paintings of Buddha, illustrations of Buddhist scriptures, illustrations of Fables, myth (some of them are taken from literature Shan Hai Jing), portraits of donors, decorative patterns, landscape and portrait paintings. Among them, Feitian, an imagined flying god, and the Reverse Playing of the Lute are the most famous paintings.

Mogao Grottoes is the largest and richest ancient art treasures in the world. Nowadays, it is regarded as an important source of studying Chinese culture. It also gives rise to a new subject – Dunhuangology.