Mogao Caves

We came to Dunhaung to visit the Mogao caves as part of our silk road journey. We were very deceived by the management approach that is ongoing here and decided not to visit this heritage site. The primary reason being the excessive access fee (240 yuans for foreign tour, 220 for chinese guide).

There is a museum (research and exhibition center) that was accessible before may 8 and it could be visited without paying a visit to the real caves. However, this basic ticket is no longer available and this is a shame. By making not making available such a visit, the management is not helping at all protecting the actual caves which would probably benefit form having less tourists inside the actual caves (actually, the amount of caves that can be visited have been gradually decreasing for years).

The management approach as well as the high access fee to the site are questionable and definitely need some rethinking.

I visited the Mogao Cave site with my husband and daughter just last month as part of our 31 day drive from Shanghai to Xinjiang and back. It was the middle of summer and very, very crowded - I guess with such a famous site that is to be expected. The caves themselves were fascinating and it certainly helped to have purchased a book in advance so we knew a bit about what we were going to see. However, our overall experience was very like the one Paul Tanner and his group had. After living and travelling in China for the last 13 years we consider ourselves to be experienced China travellers who are used to the challenges of China but Mogao Caves was a tough day for us.

A few years ago it was very common for tourist sites to charge different prices to foreigners but Mogao Caves is the only place we have come across in many years that still does it. I can't help wondering at the uproar is would cause if Chinese tourists who visited Western countries were asked to pay a completely different price just because they were Chinese?

After quite an argument about not paying the "extra" fee just because we were foreign it was decided that we could join a local tour. This meant the guide only spoke in Chinese. This was fine for my husband and daughter but I missed a lot of the stories the guide told because of all the …

I went to the Mogao Grottoes more than years ago, and I wish I had paid more attention to it, because it surely was one of the best places I had ever visited.

The paintings and artworks were fabulous, to say the least, unfortunately I hadn't quite grasped their historical significance back then. The tour group my family was travelling with could all speak and understand Chinese quite well, but the guides in general are not very helpful and tend to rush their speeches through, especially when speaking in Chinese. The many historical words associated with the cave did not make my understanding very much clearer either. But I did love the artworks in the cave, and wish I could have taken some photos, or had time to do some sketches. The sculptures are truly enormous and awe-inspiring, as well as the huge caves covered from floor to ceiling with the most colourful murals. It's amazing how the paint has managed to even retain colour through the centuries; much of the artworks of bygone eras have faded beyond redemption!

We went in autumn, the only season where non-locals could possibly survive (Dunhuang is located in a scorching desert which freezes over each night) so with that season being the most popular tourist season, it was rather crowded, however tours were spaced well apart to give each group some private viewing time and not have to all cram into a single cave. There were maybe 2 or 3 groups in a …

The Mogao Caves are located in a little oasis just outside Dunhuang city. I arrived at 2.30 p.m. and had to wait until a small group had gathered. I forgot to ask about an English-speaking guide at the ticket booth which is about 1 kilometer away from the cave entrance. So I ended up on a Chinese tour, with 11 other visitors. Photographing is not allowed.

The tour took us to nine of the caves plus the Hidden Library exhibition. The caves we visited included the two large buddhas, the reclining buddha and examples of Wei and Tang dynasty carvings. The story of the Hidden Library, and how its contents were first given away by its discoverer Wang Yuanlu and later 'bought' by non-Chinese explorers (British, American, Russian and Japanese) plays a prominent role in the tour. I got the feeling that the extremely strict visiting rules of today are compensation for this past abuse.

This was my final visit to the four groups of Buddhist rock art in China (Dazu, Longmen and Yungang were the others). The Mogao Caves are the oldest of these four, and differ from the others because of their elaborate wall paintings and decorated floors.

My feelings about visiting Mogao are a mixture of these described below by Paul Tanner and Renae in their reviews. Visiting out-of-season and in the late afternoon is definitely a plus. Also the tours now all take two hours and have good guides, which is good value …

When one writes a WHS review there is perhaps a feeling that one needs to emphasise what a great experience the visit was – after all one put a lot of time, effort and money into getting there! The Mogao Caves however provided what must be one of the worst “viewing experiences” of the 400+ WHS we have seen to date! We have travelled in China 5 times, 4 of these independently, and to most areas, so are experienced in the frustrations and difficulties of a Westerner trying to see that country – the crowds, the hassle, the rip-offs, the shrug of the shoulders accompanied by “mei banfa” (“there’s no way”) to show that the person you are dealing with “doesn’t give a damn” etc - but recognise that there are many compensations too!

In 1996 we were crossing from Islamabad to Beijing along the “Silk Road” and had reached the oasis of Dunhuang, the nearest town to the Mogao caves. In front of the site was a vast car park with hundreds of minibuses and crowds of people. Only groups are allowed inside and, as 2 foreigners, we had to wait for ages in a room until a few more people of various nationalities had congregated. We paid the large differential charges for foreigners and were then rushed through a few caves by a poor guide. No photos were allowed inside the fenced area – ie not just inside the caves themselves (which is not unreasonable to spare the …