Mogao Grottoes commonly known as Thousand-Buddha Cave is located 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang city in Gansu province. It strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road. There are 492 caves, 2,415 sculptures and 45,000 sq m of murals at the site, which spans 1,600 m from north to south.

In the early 1900s, a Chinese Taoist Mogao Grottoesnamed Wang Yuanlu appointed himself guardian of some of these temples. Wang discovered a walled up area behind one side of a corridor leading to a main cave. Behind the wall was a small cave stuffed with Buddhist scriptures, embroidery, paintings, letters, works of literature, contracts and account books written in many languages.

Mogao Grottoes are famous for their statues and well-paintings, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art. In 1987, UNESCO placed the Mogao Grottoes under the protection of the world cultural heritage list.