Hexi Corridor 

Now is the beginning of my journey and also is the start of the Hexi Corridor. Now look at the mountain on both sides just like a corridor. From this point we will cover four major cities. Sadly it is raining out there for my first day, but hopefully tomorrow will be sunshine.

During the Han Dynasty (206 BC--220 AD), after the nomadic Xiongnu were driven out (121 BC), the rulers of that time deemed that victory had shown their military strength, in memory of this, they named the established township "Wuwei" -- "military prowess".

Wuwei is the first large city encountered along the Silk Road when entering the Hexi Corridor from the east. Wuwei has a typical continental climate and long hours of sunshine.

This is special design of copper statue, it showing the powerful of the horse. It also shows the military force in about 1600 years ago. Look at that, especially a gallop horse over the flying bird. It is unique and shows the greatness.

The Horse and Swallow is the logo of the Chinese tourism industry. The design was taken from a bronze statue of a horse leaping over a swallow in flight, which was unearthed in Leitai, Wuwei County. The logo shows a white gallop horse on top of a spread wins swallow against a sky-blue background with the Chinese characters for China Tourism.

Buddhist monks came from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia to China. One station on the long way to the capital Chang'an was Dunhuang. Monks that settled down there started to dig out grottoes (Shiku) for meditation and housing for themselves and for travelers.

Wall decoration behind the main statues of the Buddhist deities is effected by wall paintings. Wall paintings in Tiantishan look very unlike mostly known Chinese art. The persons are painted in dark colors. And blue color -based statues show stories from the Buddha's life

Host: The Buddha is giant, oh my God..Opoos, oh my Buddha!

The design has so much in detail. Look at the shape and pattern of the cloth, even with wrinkles, but there is something else surprise me, take a good look at this giant toenail, it is about 2 feet long. Let me compare it with... well you cannot compare with the Giant.