The Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes, also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, which are located in the gobi-desert 25 kilometers away from Dunhuang city, consist of 492 caves with 45000 square meters wall paintings and more than 2400 painted sculptures. These well preserved caves were began to dug out in 366 year, which visually represent with vivid detail the culture of medieval China.

A scripture-storing cave (No.17 Mogao Cave) was discovered in 1900, there are fifty, sixty thousand pieces of copied Buddhist scriptures, writs and cultural relics inside the hole, which are belonging from 4 to 10th century. This discovery has caused great attention of scholars both at home and abroad, forming the famous Dunhuang Studies.