This a film in the World Heritage China series made by CNTV which look at what is probably their greatest cultural relic: the Mogao caves at Dunhuang, which were the first of the great grotto complexes to be built in China.
I have featured these caves a number of times on this site, but it is always good to go back to them and see some of the amazing Buddhist art works that were produced there over a period of around 1,000 years.
These two films tell two stories in parallel: the building of the caves and the statues and murals within them; and the journey of Aurel Stein at the beginning of the 20th century, which brought the caves to light once again.
Besides the murals and the statues, which are featured prominently in these episodes, we should also remember the more than 10,000 manuscripts which were discovered hidden in one of the caves which forms one of the greatest manuscript caches ever discovered.
Over the coming weeks I will be showing more films from this well-made and informative series, covering other great grottos and and cultural relics in Chinese heritage.
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to see an album of stills click here