Serving
as the westernmost fort
of the early Tang
Dynasty, Dunhuang was
not only a key trading
post situated on the
"Silk Road" but also the
military headquarters
for the operations in
the Western Regions.
Foreign merchants and
monks from the West as
well as officials and
soldiers from central
China brought their own
cultures to Dunhuang and
made the trading center
a cultural "melting
pot." The economic,
military, political and
cultural activities
which took place at this
cross-roads provided the
basis for the
flourishing of one of
China’s earliest
Buddhist centers.
Most Buddhist monks came
to China from India and
Central Asia by way of
the Silk Road. As the
westernmost Chinese
station on the route,
Dunhuang became the
ideal place for these
foreign monks to learn
the Chinese language and
culture before entering
central China. Foreign
monks and their Chinese
disciples formed the
earliest Buddhist
communities at Dunhuang
in the late 3rd and
early 4th centuries.
Many Buddhist sutras
were translated at
Dunhuang and then
distributed into central
China. Monk Zhu Fahu, a
famous translator of
Buddhist texts,
organized his
translation team at
Dunhuang and became
known as "The
Bodhisattva of Dunhuang."
Enormous economic and
human resources were
used to produce Buddhist
sutras and to build
places of worship,
including thousands of
cave temples. By the 5th
century, Dunhuang had
become an important
center of Buddhism on
the Silk Road. |