Dunhuang and Its Global Connections

Catalog description

Dunhuang is not only the “Pompeii of China” that in modern days attracts a huge amount of tourists; it was also one of the most metropolitan cities in the ancient world, comparable with Rome, Alexandria, or Constantinople. How could an inland city be so cosmopolitan? What makes the place a city of art? And how did this once fashionable city fade away, and then reappear as a complex of archeological sites? In this class, we will focus on one of the biggest archeological discoveries in the 20th century: Dunhuang. In addition to how Dunhuang was discovered, we will explore the main elements that vitalized Dunhuang as a metropolitan city: art, religion, language, literature, and technology. We will further examine the lifelines that brought these diverse cultural elements into Dunhuang from China, India, Central Asia, etc. As part of the class, we will also take a field trip to Dunhuang and nearby sites to physically experience the connectedness of Dunhuang. We will closely examine the murals, caves, and the city layouts so that we can reconstruct what it was like to live in the ancient Dunhuang. In other words, you get to be in the art world of Dunhuang. Pre-requisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE HPC or IPC; GCS China and the World.