Sutra-hidden Cave and "the Study of Dunhuang"

In 1900, a Taoist Wang Yuanlu living at the Mogao Grottoes came upon a side door on the wall of a north corridor when he was clearing off the accumulated sand in Grotto No. 16. Upon opening the door, he discovered a square grotto chamber measuring 2.6 m long and wide, and 3 m high, which was filled with more than 50,000 cultural relics - documents, books, paper paintings, silk paintings, embroideries and others of the past dynasties from the fourth to the eleventh century. This is the renowned Sutra-hidden Cave. The cultural relics contained there provide significant historical materials for the scientific study of the histories of China and central Asia. And an international study has come into being - the study of Dunhuang, which specializes in the research of the documents in the Sutra-hidden Cave and the art of the Dunhuang Grottoes.