The old city of Dunhuang

Dunhuang ancient city

synonym

The ancient city of Dunhuang generally refers to the ancient city of Dunhuang

Dunhuang ancient city is located in the hinterland of oasis in the middle and lower reaches of Danghe river. Shazhou was established in Tang Dynasty, Shazhou road in Yuan Dynasty and Shazhou guard in Ming Dynasty. According to the research of Li Bingcheng, a researcher in Dunhuang Institute of Northwest Normal University, it may be that Zhao fenu marched two thousand li westward from lingju. In the sixth year of the Han Dynasty (the 11th year before), he mobilized Zhangye and Jiuquan counties to build the Western fortress of Dunhuang City, as well as the tuhe, Saicheng and majuankouyan water conservancy project outside Dunhuang oasis.

History and culture

Dunhuang has a long history. The word "Dunhuang" was first seen in the biographies of Dawan in historical records. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ying Shao explained "Dun, Daye; Huang, Shengye", which means grand and brilliant. In history, Dunhuang used to be the hub of transportation between China and the west, the key to the Silk Road, the international metropolis in foreign exchanges, and the military center in the western regions. It occupies a glorious chapter in the long history of China. Dunhuang was called "three dangers" in ancient times. "Dusi Zhi" states: "three dangers are Wangshan in Shazhou, commonly known as Yiyu mountain, 30 kilometers southeast of the county. Three dangers stand out like a dangerous egg. Gu Yun. "Up to now, there are three towering and peculiar peaks in the southeast of Dunhuang City, which are the three ancient dangers. Today it is still called Sanwei mountain. In ancient times, about 4000 years ago, which was equivalent to the time of Shun and Yu, the ancestors of human beings lived and multiplied here in Dunhuang. According to the book of history, Shun became the earliest resident of Dunhuang. According to archaeological findings, in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, there were Qiang Rong residents belonging to the Huoshaogou culture in Yumen. In the spring and Autumn period, Dunhuang was called Guazhou, which got its name from the real estate. At that time, the nomads of Yueshi and Wusun lived here. In the Warring States period, Yueshi gradually became powerful, engulfed Qiang people, drove Wusun away and became the new master of Dunhuang. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Xiongnu rose and defeated Yueshi. Dunhuang was occupied by Xiongnu. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, after fighting back against the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu was forced to "follow far away", and the Hexi area belonged to the territory of the Han Dynasty. Since then, the Central Plains Dynasty began to manage Hexi and the western regions, opening a chapter in the history of Dunhuang development.

Current situation of the ancient city

The ancient city of Dunhuang now has only three broken walls in the south, North and West. The east side has been washed by water and collapsed. Some foundation sites can be found on the riverbed on the west side of Danghe river. According to the remains of the ruins, the old city is 1132 meters long from north to South and 718 meters wide from east to west. Soil was taken from the site and rammed layer by layer. The thickness of rammed layer is 12 cm, the width of wall foundation is 6-8 m, and the residual height is about 4 M. The four corner building is still 16 meters high, twice as high as the city wall. The lower part is rammed and the upper part is built with adobe. In the middle of the western wall, there is a door hole left, which belongs to the western regions. The city is the old city of Han Dynasty, which was reinforced and repaired twice in Xiliang and Tang Dynasty. The northwest corner of the city is now used as an oil depot, and the rest is turned into farmland, with no remains to be found on the surface. It is located in the desert Gobi to the south of Dunhuang Yangguan highway, 25 kilometers away from the city center. Dunhuang is a large-scale historical feature film CO produced by China and Japan in 1987. It is based on the Song Dynasty's "Qingming River map" and imitates the design and construction of Shazhou ancient city, with a construction area of 10000 square meters.

The architectural style of the ancient city of Dunhuang has a strong western region style. The city opens three gates in the East, West and south, and the city buildings are towering. The city is composed of five main streets, namely Gaochang, Dunhuang, Ganzhou, Xingqing and Bianliang, with Buddhist temples, pawnshops, warehouses, restaurants and houses on both sides.

"Imitating the Song Dynasty Shazhou city" and "Dunhuang film city" are large-scale historical feature film "Dunhuang" CO produced by China and Japan in 1987, which is based on the Song Dynasty "Qingming River map", funded by the Japanese side, and carefully designed and built with reference to ancient Chinese architectural style. The building area is 12700 square meters. Located on the desert Gobi, the ancient city of Dunhuang integrates the customs of the western regions for thousands of years. The city has three gates in the East, West and south, with towering towers. The city is composed of five main streets in the Northern Song Dynasty, namely Gaochang, Dunhuang, Ganzhou, Xingqing and Bianliang. They are decorated with different areas, such as cross streets, Buddhist temples, pawnshops, warehouses, silk shops, restaurants, houses, etc. as shooting props, with each other as the background They complement each other. In addition to Dunhuang, he has shot more than 20 Chinese and foreign films and TV plays, such as the romance of Fengshen, the roaring sword, the New Dragon Gate Inn, Dunhuang night talk, Prince of Shazhou, mirage, etc. It has become the main tourist site of Dunhuang. Dunhuang ancient city is located in the south of Dunhuang Yangguan highway. It's 25 kilometers from the city center.

Traffic information

There is no public transportation in the ancient city. Most tourists charter a car to pass by when they visit the Dunhuang west line. It's very convenient to charter a car in Dunhuang city to take the western route of Dunhuang. You can carpool in the hotel or hostel where you stay. Generally, it's about 100-150 yuan per person per day.

Population nationality

Dunhuang city is under the jurisdiction of Jiuquan City, Gansu Province. The total population of the city is 180000, including 93000 in agriculture. The Han nationality accounts for the majority of the total population, and the 10 ethnic minorities, including Hui, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Miao, man, Tujia, Kazak, Dongxiang and Yugu, only account for 1.06% of the total population.

natural environment

In Dunhuang, there are Sanwei mountain in the East, Mingsha mountain in the south, desert in the west, connected with Taklimakan, Gobi in the north, connected with Tianshan Mountain. The average altitude is less than 1200 meters, and the urban area is 1138 meters above sea level. The Danghe alluvial fan belt and the Shule River alluvial plain constitute the inland plain of Dunhuang. The boundless desert and vast oasis form a unique natural landscape. The oasis area is like a fan spreading from southwest to northeast. Because it is located in the inland, the obvious characteristics are dry climate, less rainfall, large evaporation, large temperature difference between day and night, long sunshine time. The annual average precipitation is 39.9 mm, evaporation is 2486 mm, and the annual sunshine hours is 3246.7 hours. It has four distinct seasons. It is warm and windy in spring, hot in summer, cool in autumn and cold in winter. The annual average temperature is 9.4 ℃, the monthly average maximum temperature is 24.9 ℃ (July), the monthly average minimum temperature is - 9.3 ℃ (January), and the annual average frost free period is 142 days, which is a typical warm temperate arid climate.

Dunhuang oasis is nourished by Danghe river. Danghe River, which originates from Qilian Mountain, has a total length of 390 kilometers, a drainage area of 16800 square kilometers and an annual runoff of 328 million cubic meters. It is an important water conservancy lifeline of Dunhuang and the mother river of Dunhuang people. In addition to Danghe River, there are also xishuigou, dongshuigou and Nanhu spring areas for surface water, with a total overflow of 3.14 m3 / s and an annual runoff of 99.023 million m3.

Resource advantages

Dunhuang has 310000 mu of cultivated land, 570000 mu of grassland, 1.19 million mu of natural forest and 4.06 million mu of arable land. Due to the fertile soil and good irrigation conditions, it is suitable for the growth of various crops. The main crops are cotton, watermelon, melon, vegetables, wheat, corn, etc. Dunhuang is the largest cotton production base and the hometown of melons and fruits in the province due to its superior light conditions, strong photosynthesis and large temperature difference between day and night. With an annual output of more than 20 million kg of high-quality fruits and 15000 tons of high-quality lint. The territory is rich in mineral resources, mainly including 26 varieties of mirabilite, asbestos, vanadium, gold, manganese and other four categories. Among them, the vanadium mine in Fangshankou has proven reserves of 1.2586 million tons, ranking first in Asia, with an average grade of 0.86% and the highest of 3%.

urban construction

Dunhuang is located at the westernmost end of Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province, at the junction of Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces, with a total area of 31200 square kilometers, including 3.8 square kilometers of urban built-up area (excluding 4 square kilometers of Qili town built-up area), and a total population of 180000. It is a famous tourist city in Western China. Dunhuang has a long history. It has a history of 100 years since Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty opened up Hexi and set up Dunhuang county. In ancient times, Dunhuang was not only an outpost for opening up territory and managing the western regions, but also a metropolis where ancient Chinese and Western cultures met and a center for cultural exchanges between China and the West. The prosperity of China's fully inclusive and equitable culture has made Dunhuang a window for the exchange of eastern and Western cultures and the first place to open to the West in Chinese history. The eastern and Western cultures blend here and the West spread eastward. Dunhuang has long absorbed the essence of the ancient Silk Road's collection of civilization, forming Dunhuang's open and enlightened and inclusive historical tradition, creating the world's admirable Dunhuang culture. In its territory, there are more than 20 precious landscapes, such as Mogao Grottoes, Guyang pass, Yumen pass, Mingsha mountain Yueya spring, xiqianfo cave, shouchangcheng, the great wall of Han Dynasty, Xuanquanzhi site, Yadan landform, etc. Mogao Grottoes are outstanding representatives of Dunhuang culture and art. Dunhuang studies, which focus on the study of Dunhuang manuscripts and grottoes art, has become an international outstanding study.

Dunhuang city has made remarkable achievements in speeding up the construction of Dunhuang international tourism city, increasing investment and accelerating infrastructure construction. Since 1998, a total of 1.74 billion yuan has been invested in urban infrastructure, of which 218 million yuan has been raised, which is equivalent to the total investment in the first two decades of 1998. 1. Urban infrastructure construction: first, increase the investment in urban infrastructure. It has invested 41.45 million yuan and completed the widening and reconstruction of 24 urban and rural roads, including Binhe Road and dunyue road

Chinese PinYin : Dun Huang Gu Cheng