|
Scenic spots in Dunhuang offers half-price
tickets (April 12, 2009)
Famed Silk Road
grottoes in China get fewer visitors amid financial crisis
The global
financial crisis has slashed the number of tourists to Dunhuang, a
Silk Road city and home to historic Buddhist grottoes, city tourism
bureau chief Gong Ying said on Monday.
Gong said
domestic tourist arrivals were likely to decline 30 percent this
year, with those of foreigners down 40 percent.
Dunhuang, in
northwest China's Gansu Province, had 1.4 million tourists last
year, including 100,000 from overseas.
Gong said major
natural disasters, such as prolonged snow early in the year and the
devastating earthquake in May, had also affected tourism.
"We are not
optimistic about the market next year, as the financial crisis is
worsening," he said.
The Mogao
Grottoes, a UN-listed World Heritage site known as the Cave of a
Thousand Buddhas, received fewer than 100 tourists daily, compared
with an average of 1,500 per day last year, the official added.
Gong said the
bureau will tap the Taiwan market next year, to take advantage of
cross-Strait direct air and sea services that began earlier this
month amid warming ties.
A 261 million
yuan (about 38 million U.S. dollars) rehabilitation project began on
Monday to protect the fragile ancient paintings and sculptures.
(Xinhua, Dec. 29, 2008)
Transport
bottleneck curbs tourism along Silk Road
July 4, 2007 - It was once the
main route for goods and people across Asia and into Europe, but
international experts in development are now lamenting the inadequate
transport links on the centuries-old Silk Road. The lack of sufficient
transport between China and Central Asia, especially air links, has
become an obstacle to tourism development along the Silk Road, according
to the United Nations Development Program. (Click
for full report on ChinaView..cn)
Mogao Grottoes Opened Five New Caves
In an effort to relieve tension on protection of
Mogao
Grottoes in Duhuang aroused from seasonal imbalance of tourists,
relevant authorities opened another five grottoes which were never
available to tourists before to the public recently.
These five newly opened grottoes include the No. 290,
No. 296, No. 407, No. 196 and No. 9 ones which have high artistic value
and are typical of the period from the North Zhou Dynasty (557-581AD) to
the late Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD). Tourists
can still visit grottoes which were opened before. The Buddhist
scriptures library, the Dunhuang Academy history & Mr. Chang Shuhong
memorial hall, and the cultural relic protection and exhibition center
will remain open too. Admission fees for Dunhuang Singing Sands Mountain
and Crescent Spring offer a 50% discount over that of high seasons.
As a world renowned cultural heritage site,
Dunhuang's Mogao Grottoes has nearly 500 existing caves. Also known as
"Pearl of the Oriental Art" and Thousand-Buddha Cave, Mogao Grottoes
were initially chiseled in 366AD. After caverning from the Sixteen
Kingdoms period (304-436AD) through the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1367AD),
Mogao Grottoes formed a large stone grotto cluster affluent in contents.
Dunhuang Academy suggested
domestic and foreign tourists visit Mogao Grottoes in winter or spring,
when there are fewer visitors. Visitors will have more time to enjoy
broad space in the grottos, listen to illustrations, and carefully watch
the fine frescos and statues.
Dunhuang to
Build International Airport
Xinhua News, Oct. 19, 2006 - Dunhuang in
northwest China's Gansu Province is planning to build an
international airport because the number of overseas tourists
flocking in to see the ancient Buddhist cave paintings is growing by
30 percent annually. The new airport will
first open to international charter flights to and from Hong Kong,
Osaka and Seoul, said Feng Shiping, head of Dunhuang's Commerce
Bureau. About 370 charter flights will fly
these three routes in the peak travel seasons between late April and
mid October each year. He said, "China Southern Airlines, Air China
and Hainan Airlines will be operating these flights." (Click
for full report)
Mogao Grottoes Opened
Five New Caves
In an
effort to relieve tension on protection of
Mogao Grottoes in Duhuang
aroused from seasonal imbalance of tourists, relevant
authorities opened another five grottoes which were never
available to tourists before to the public recently.
(Click
for full story)
Floods
Threaten Silk Road Grottoes
Flooding and rain threaten the
Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes hidden in northwest
China's vast Gobi desert...
China to Build
Digital Dunhuang Grottoes
China will invest 200 million yuan or more than US$24 million to
build digital Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. The digital version is so
real that tourists will feel like they are visiting the real
grottoes. The world-famous Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang are located in
northwest China's Gansu Province. The Grottoes date back to 336 A.D.
They are the one of the three major Buddhist art treasures in China
and are the largest in terms of scale of all existing art
collections in the world. The grand grottoes went on the World
Heritage List in 1987. (CRI Mar. 5, 2004)
Wounds of Time to Dunhuang
Grottoes Aired
Shanghai Star November 11, 2004 -
China Central Television's recent live broadcasts from
Dunhuang's grottoes may be the first time Chinese media have focused on these
mysterious marvels. The programmes showed more than 10 grottoes that had never
before been exposed to public view. (full
coverage)
|
