Promoting culture

The challenge now is for the academy to nurture the younger generation and develop talent in novel ways to take on the crucial role of promoting Chinese culture, Zhao says.

"Beyond the promotion and development of Dunhuang art, we are also focusing on creative cultural areas."

A creative cultural research center has been set up at the academy. Animation artists are working on designing products and are also involved in artistic education. They offer children the chance to sketch the art at Dunhuang firsthand, which helps them develop an interest in it from a young age and appreciate its beauty.

"Of course, we can't do this alone. We need to work together with society, with enterprises, to help us promote these things," Zhao says.

The director says he hopes that more people, particularly those involved in the arts, will visit Dunhuang, "to feel this place, be inspired, to learn its art, its culture, and then spread news about it, and hopefully create some new art that belongs to our times".

The academy has worked with the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. A group of designers visited Dunhuang to learn about its particular styles, subsequently coming up with some fashion for contemporary times. "In that way they help spread and promote our traditional culture," he says.

"I hope we can cover more fields, including industrial design, that can draw inspiration from Dunhuang.

"That way, we can enrich modern society."

Artists today need, more than ever, to build on the foundations of traditional culture to create and establish a firm footing internationally, Zhao says.

Developing and promoting China's cultural heritage also requires a dedicated team of specialists who are able to explore and tap multiple channels of communication, he says.

"Many people, when they come to Dunhuang, they go into the dimly lit caves. They can't see much, and they can't understand what they see. How do you promote something like that?

"We need a team of people to take on this role, introduce Dunhuang, and teach people how to appreciate its intricacies and details that make it so appealing," Zhao says.

"Where is the value, what is special about the art? That needs to be explained to a wider audience. Perhaps it can be explained through books and classes. And artists can also use their medium. For instance, they can communicate with younger people through exhibitions and animations."

These approaches in turn allow Dunhuang's legacy to become infused in society and appreciated at all levels, finding their way to the ground-and appearing even as apsaras on cups, Zhao says.

"The hope is for the younger generation to better grasp the beauty of Dunhuang art … as a major representation of traditional Chinese art. Then it can really flourish."