# 100 Dunhuang Stories | Silk Road Story Archive — YUQUAN 峪泉

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> From the first cave dug in 366 AD to the 1900 discovery of the Library Cave - over 100 Dunhuang and Silk Road stories from inscriptions, sutras and poetry.
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From 366 to 1900 CE: ten stories carved in steles, sutras, murals and verse — retold on the basis of classical scholarship.

## A Millennium in Ten Tales

Follow the great scenes carved in steles, sutras and murals, in chronological order.

## Story Gallery

Jataka, Buddha's life, avadana, sutra art, apsaras, donors, caissons, landscape, daily life — a hundred stories from a thousand walls.

## Quick answers

Short, citable answers to the questions readers ask most about this section.

### What period do the stories cover?

From 366 CE, when the monk Yuezun dug the first cave at Mogao, to 1900, when the Library Cave (Cave 17) was opened and its manuscripts dispersed.

### What sources are the stories based on?

Stone inscriptions, Buddhist sutras, dynastic histories, Dunhuang manuscripts and Tang poetry. Each story names the cave number or documentary source it draws on.

### How many stories are there?

Over 100, organised by theme: jataka tales, the life of the Buddha, avadana, sutra art, apsaras, donors, ceiling patterns, landscape and architecture, daily life, and modern history.

### Is the Courier brick the one on the China Post logo?

Yes. The Courier brick from the Wei-Jin tombs at Jiayuguan Xincheng, painted between the 3rd and 5th centuries, is the original of the image used on the China Post logo.