DunHuang is the name of the city. It is located between Urumgi and Yumen. It was an oasis irrigated by the Tang River and began to serve as an important way staion on the main trade route between China and Central Asia since the first century B.C. when Emporor Han Wu-ti started to expand the empire westwards. This was an area where many races lived together. Chinese (in the ethnic sense), Mongols, Uighurs, Tibetans, Hsia, and others resided here. In he mountains nearby, Buddhist cave-shrines began to be constructed from 366 A.D., in which scriptures were stored, and wall paintings and sculptures were created and maintained. Dunhuang, at 42N, is at approximately the same latitude as the cities of Boston, Rome, and Bacelona.

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