The Grottoes of Dunhuang include the Mogao Grottoes, West Thousand-Buddha Cave and Yulin Grottoes. The grottoes are about 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang in Gansu Province and are hewn from a steep cliff at the foot of Mingsha Mountain. In places they are five stories high and their length from north to south is more than 1,600 meters.It is a 1,000-year-old ancient art gallery still living today. Each cave and each mural has its own story.

The construction of the Mogao Grottoes spanned more than a thousand years ranging from the Early Qin, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Xixia and Yuan. But it was the Tang Dynasty that was really its heyday. During this period more than one thousand caves were carved.

The earliest cave was carved 1630 years ago.It is said that in 366 A.D. a monk named Yuezun saw 1000 Buddhas over the Sanwei Mountain opposite the cliff of the Mingsha Mountain, so the devout believer set to carve grottoes into the sandstone cliff and fill them with buddhist images. Thereafter people came in flocks to carve caves to express their belief in the Buddhas. Since then more and more caves have been excavated over a thousand year. In total there are 492 caves dating back to 16 dynasties including 16 Kingdoms, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Xixia and Yuan.

The art of the Mogao Grottoes is composed of cave architecture, sculptures and murals.In the caves there are 45,000 square meters of murals, 2,415 color sculptures and some 4,000 celestial figures. In addition there are five timber buildings from the Tang and Song dynasties and 50,000 documents and cultural relics. The grottoes are a treasury of arts including architecture, painting and sculpture as well a treasure house of documents and cultural relics. They were listed as one of the world's cultural heritages in 1987.

Murals from various periods reflect social life, clothing, production, ancient architecture, music, dance and acrobatics and are a historical record of cultural exchanges between China and other region. The images in the grottoes are a valuable reference for the study of ancient Chinese society from the fourth century to the 14th century.

The murals of the Mogao Grottoes are of high historical and artistic value. Those from Tang Dynasty achieve the highest artistic perfection with strong figures that are well shaped and proportioned and featuring attractive lively images.

The painted statues in the Dunhuang Grottoes focus on integration of color and form leaving space for color and lines to supplement each other. Bright colors exaggerate the characteristics of the subjects.

The most impressive caves are Cave 96, 17, 130, 158, 259, 285, 200 and 428.

Included in the UNESCO world heritage list in 1987.