Gansu
Gansu Culture & Language
Culture
Gansu’s culture is layered from everything the corridor carried.
The Mogao caves
Four hundred and ninety-two decorated caves cut into a cliff face over a kilometre long, painted and sculpted continuously from 366 to the fourteenth century. The murals cover some 45,000 square metres and show the whole arc of Buddhist art in China — early caves with Indian and Central Asian styling, Tang caves of extraordinary confidence and colour, and later work under Tibetan and Tangut patrons. The flying apsaras that became a symbol of Dunhuang are painted across the ceilings. A dedicated academy has worked on conservation and digitisation since 1944.
Labrang
The monastery at Xiahe holds six colleges teaching medicine, astrology and Buddhist philosophy, and the debating courtyards operate daily. The kora circuit of prayer wheels is walked continuously by pilgrims, many of whom have prostrated their way there.
Hui Islam
Linxia has dozens of mosques in Chinese, Arab and Central Asian styles and is a centre of Islamic education in China.
Other cave complexes
Mogao is the largest but not the only one. Maijishan near Tianshui is a sandstone pinnacle honeycombed with nearly two hundred caves reached by walkways bolted to the vertical face, holding clay sculpture of extraordinary delicacy; Bingling, reached by boat across a reservoir, has a 27-metre seated Buddha. Between them the province holds one of the great concentrations of Buddhist art anywhere.
The Flying Horse
A second-century bronze horse balanced on one hoof on a swallow, found at Wuwei, and now the emblem of Chinese tourism.
Language Basics
Mandarin is the common language, in a northwestern accent that differs noticeably from the standard.
Tibetan, in the Amdo dialect, is spoken across the south around Xiahe and is the language of the monasteries. Dongxiang, a Mongolic language, and Yugur, which is Turkic, are spoken by small communities and almost nowhere else on earth.
The Hui population speaks Chinese, with Arabic and Persian vocabulary in religious use, and Arabic appears on signage around Linxia.
English is limited outside Dunhuang’s tourist infrastructure. A translation app is necessary.
Useful Mandarin: ni hao, xie xie, duo shao qian, mai dan. In Tibetan, tashi delek as a greeting is warmly received at Labrang.