The Ancient City of Dunhuang is in the most west corner of Hexi Corridor in Gansu province and located in the junction of Gansu province, Qinghai province and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with 31 thousands and 200 million square kilometers. Its urban built-up land area is 3.8 square kilometers with a population of 0.18 million people. Dunhuang is a famous tourist city in the western China. And Dunhuang has a profound history since the Emperor Wu of Han dynasty explored Hexi and set a county in Dunhuang.
History
The Ancient City of Dunhuang is situated in the hinderland of oasis in the middle and lower of Dang River. From Tang dynasty to Ming dynasty, its site remained the same.
According to a researcher analysis, the formation of Dunhuang might be that Zhao Ponu marched from Lingju to the west for two thousands miles, and in the sixth year of Yuanding period of Han dynasty, Zhao ponu assembled human resource in Zhangye and Jiuquan County to build this fortress—Dunhuang city, wall outside of the oasis and Maquankou Weir.
Characteristic Features
The Ancient City of Dunhuang preserved only three snatchy ruin walls in the south, north and west. The wall in the east was washed away and we found that a section of wall was in the west river bed of Dang River. According to these ruins of wall, it is speculated that the original wall had a length of 1132 meters from south to north; it is 718 meters wide from east to west.
The pillars in the four corners are 16 meters high which are higher than the wall. This ancient city is the old city in Han dynasty, and maintained in Xiliang Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. The northwest inside the city is used as oil depot now, and other part of city is farmland now.
The Gobi Desert along Yuangguan Road where near this ancient city of Dunhuang is in the south and 25 miles away from center city. The ancient city of Dunhuang was built for historical story episode Dunhuang. And it is a city based on the famous scroll in Song Dynasty—Riverside Scene in Tomb sweeping festival and imitated Shazhou old city. The total area of the ancient city pf Dunhuang is 10 thousands square meters.
Basic Information
【Chinese name】: 敦煌影视古城
【Best time to visit】: The temperature difference here is quite large all year around. It is situated in temperate arid zone in the inland; it belongs to a mainland monsoon type climate. Every February is the coldest month in a year