Dunhuang is in the wild, wild west of China: it's a good 2000 kilometer west of Beijing, right on the silk road that caravans would take to get from China to the Middle East.
If you can't take the silk road all the way to Kashgar -or even further- making it to Dunhuang is worth your while. The Thousand Buddha caves , aka the Mogao Grottoes, are one of the greatets reminders of the era of the silk trade. You will find murals, frescoes, and painted statues & ceilings. The best cavaes are no. 17, 45, 158 and 26.
Other sights include the white horse pagoda, the yangguan pass and the yumen pass. These sights cannot rival in beauty with the caves, but it is quite some fun getting there through the desertlike landscape.
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