As you stroll through the caves in Guangxi province, you might ponder on their formation and try to spot some of their intriguing features. Formation The life-span of a solution cave can be split into three phases: (i) Initiation phase: groundwater seeps slowly through cracks and fractures in the limestone bedding planes. Over 3,000 to 10,000 years are needed to turn one such fracture to a pencil-sized opening of 5 to 10 mm wide.  » Read more »

"They were the oddest hills in the world, and the most Chinese, because these are the hills that are depicted in every Chinese scroll. It is almost a sacred landscape – it is certainly an emblematic one." Paul Theroux, Riding the Iron Rooster, 1988 When looking at a Chinese painting, most visitors will remark upon the enormous differences from Western painting tradition. Foremost among the differences are the use of ink and silk paper as opposed to oil and canvas,  » Read more »

Day One  Arrive at the Hotel of Modern Art and enjoy a relaxing meal or a stroll through the tiny, pedestrian streets of Yangshuo village. (Hotel of Modern Art – Deluxe Room) (D)   Day Two  In the morning we will take a relaxing boat-ride along a rarely visited stretch of the Li River: fishermen use cormorants to fish, clumbs of bamboo trees line the shores,  » Read more »

  These are the bare facts: the Mogao cave complex is comprised of 492 caves, containing 450,000 square feet of murals dating from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries – a period which corresponds to an immense growth in international commerce along the nearby Silk Road. The caves were abandoned in the fourteenth century and lay untouched until the beginning of the twentieth century. These facts presume ten centuries of consecutive public works programs of astonishing financial proportions and startling logistical complications.  » Read more »

By Guy Rubin Centuries ago, in a cliff-face in the midst of China's vast Taklamakan desert, artists hollowed, sculpted and painted 492 caves, creating over 450,000 square feet of spectacular murals, or more than thirty times the mural area of the Sistine Chapel. But whereas the Sistine Chapel was painted over a few years, the works at the Mogao Caves began in the fourth century and were completed over the next millennium.  » Read more »