There is more to Dunhuang than just the famed grottoes. Sun
Pass, built over 2,000 years ago, is also high up on any visitor's
list.
The ruins are not that impressive to look at, until it is
pointed out that Sun Pass and Jade Gate Pass were one of two main
gates along the fabled Silk Road.
Before the Han authorities set up the western border crossings
in BC 121, Yangguan was a wasteland.
The Han administration encouraged migration to the area and
started building a thriving frontier town.
"The Silk Road would not have existed without this period of
development," Yangguan Museum chief Ji Yongyuan said.
The emergence of Dunhuang culture, which is both local and
global, was not an accident. Early development made construction of
the grottoes in AD 366 possible.
Although it is not obvious from the ruins, the Great Wall "is a
living testimonial of the period", Ji said.?
When Yangguan was first established it was the sole contact
point between China and the states west of it.
In Western countries many relics of bygone empires have been
preserved, but cultural preservation at Yangguan is now at "a very
critical phase", Ji said.
"It isn't that the country, the province or the city has not
paid notice - but the level
of attention is still not enough. Now is the time to rescue what
we still have."
Ji is referring to remnants of the Great Wall, built some 2,100
years ago. At present, what's left of it covers an area of over
100,000 sq m, roughly 300 m in length.
"Two heavy rains will bring it down and you won't find anything
left afterward," Ji said. "Once it falls, we're all doomed."
(China Daily September 25, 2007)