TS27560292
CULTURAL HERITAGE - THE RAILROAD 10: IN LOVE WITH DUNHUANG
Dun" means "grandness" and "huang", "prosperity". This "grand and prosperous city" Dunhuang has a history of more than a thousand years. It is a major juncture on the Silk Road, facilitating the economic and cultural exchanges between the east and the west and the rise of the great Han Dynasty. Dunhuang's beauty is charming and fascinating. The Dunhuang Railway runs southwest from Liugou Station of the Lanxin Railway on the Gobi Desert, passing the "world's wind warehouse" Guazhou, where strong wind blows all year round, to Dunhuang. The line suffers from a lack of water and electricity supply. It can only depend on Guazhou and Dunhuang for such needs. Looking back, we could imagine that the adverse natural environment must have posed much difficulty for the construction project of the railway several years ago.

The Mogao Caves in Dunhuang are also known as the Caves of Thousand Buddhas. The discovery of the Caves is regarded as the most valuable cultural encounter in the 20th century. Considered as the "Louvre in the East", the Mogao Caves, first built in the Former Qin in the 4th century, are featured by delicate wall paintings and statues. The complex comprises 735 cells, wall paintings with a total area of 45,000 sq m and 2,415 coloured statues, standing as the world's largest and most profound collection of Buddhist fine art. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The noctilucent cup in Jiuquan, Gansu Province is a luxurious jade cup for wine. In this episode, we are going to visit Mr Huang Yuesu, the state-level successor of this intangible cultural heritage item. We shall also watch the Quzi opera in Dunhuang, which is a folk opera popular in five provinces and municipalities in the Northwest of China. The art originated from the popular music in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and took shape with additional local features in the late Qing. We will also visit the state-level successor of this intangible cultural heritage, Mr Xiao Dejin.

The Silk Road was once a principal path transmitting the cultures from the east to the west and vice versa. Despite that it has already slipped away from the course of history, it has left a lot of historical and cultural relics for us to explore. Although history passes, cultural heritage lasts.
DVD
30 minutes
2011
USD 500.00