A sand dune the size of Singapore sits besides Dunhuang, now a small market town in the gigantic Taklimakan desert. It was not always so. At the time of the Silk Road, this was one of the world’s largest cities, the farthest outpost of China serving the rich trade with the west. From the fourth century for over a thousand years, Dunhuang was the gateway to China when this was the world’s "Fortnum and Mason". Vast fortunes were made, and it became customary for wealthy families to finance the painting of Buddhist caves in thanks. Nearly 500 caves were hollowed out and painted in a one-mile long cliff face near the city. The Mogao Caves became the birthplace of Chinese figurative painting and are a unique record of a millennium of Chinese and Central Asian history. Long removed from camels and caravans, Dunhuang is now home to some of the world’s largest solar and wind energy farms, stretching across the desert beyond the ancient Great Wall where travelers once tracked. The ancient Silk Road is explicitly recalled in China’s new One Belt One Road policy. Of course, for those who know their Dunhuang history, there is nothing new under the sun.