From da Vinci to George Lucas, the myth and allure of China’s Dunhuang endures

This painting, which bears striking similarities to Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, is an example of how the arts of Dunhuang are

The ancient city of Dunhuang, which for centuries welcomed Western merchants travelling along the legendary silk road to China, could be a "perfect platform" to improve China-US relations, according to an American research professor.

Neil Schmid is the first and only Western scholar hired by the Dunhuang Academy in northwest China's Gansu province to study the nearby Mogao Caves, also called the Thousand Buddha Grottoes. He is convinced the site's past provides a basis for modern cultural exchanges.

While the caves - the oldest of which date to AD366 - are celebrated for their invaluable insights into the history of Buddhism, they also feature artwork and texts from Confucian, Taoist, Christian and Hebrew traditions.

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The diversity of the artefacts reflects Dunhuang's status from the 2nd century until its decline in the 11th century as a melting pot of ideas, religions and art.

In the countless hours Schmid has spent in the caves since joining the academy in 2018, he has been struck by the diversity of religions and cultures represented in their many artistic layers. "And it is not one culture or religion that dominates," he said.

Dunhuang could be "a bridge between China and the US" with its traces of Christianity, according to Schmid. "I think when Westerners hear that, it piques their curiosity, and they're like, oh, this is really interesting and maybe it is not so foreign."

In the coming months, Schmid and colleagues at the academy will provide Dunhuang content for a museum owned by filmmaker George Lucas - creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises - to showcase the beauty of the Unesco World Heritage site.

"Lucas is somebody who recognises the value of Dunhuang," Schmid said.

Their cooperation will include creating a replica cave of one of the Mogao grottoes at the Lucas museum.

The finished project will be displayed at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art - founded by the filmmaker and his wife Mellody Hobson, who chairs the Starbucks Corporation - which is scheduled to open in Los Angeles in 2025.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Dunhuang Academy, which was established in 1944 and is responsible for managing the site as well as supporting research into the caves and their history.

Schmid was startled during one of his recent cave explorations when his flashlight fell upon something "strangely familiar". He had discovered a painting that closely resembled Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, which dates to around 1500.

Despite predating the Renaissance depiction of Christ as "saviour of the world" by 500 years, the "Dunhuang da Vinci" uses the same iconography.

The figure in the Dunhuang painting also has a raised right hand, with two fingers visible to signify blessings and protection, while the left hand is holding an orb. But instead of the Christ, it has the head of a camel.

This "fascinating and incongruous" find is another example of how the arts of Dunhuang are "so multicultural they can transcend time and space".

Schmid, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a doctorate in East Asian languages and civilisations, has no plans to give up his life of solitude and scholarship in the desert.

Even the isolation he endured throughout China's zero-Covid response to the pandemic - which many foreigners found unbearable - did not deter Schmid, who admits that Dunhuang continues to fascinate him and would be hard to let go.

Schmid, who also studied ancient Chinese civilisations in Japan and France, first came to mainland China in 1984 and has witnessed the many ups and downs in bilateral ties between Beijing and Washington.

He is convinced that increased cultural exchanges between China and the US are "more necessary than ever" during the current low point in the relationship and finds it "hugely disappointing" that so few Americans are studying in the country.

According to Schmid, many are dissuaded by the largely negative presentation of China by Western media outlets. "And we have to change this. Even if you vehemently disagree with China, you need to understand it," he said.

Despite the challenging geopolitical climate, Schmid is convinced that Dunhuang has its own appeal to Westerners. He plans to use Instagram to showcase his scholarship and life amid Dunhuang's artefacts.

Dunhuang, with its complex and multilayered beauty, is like a "massive data set" where one can ask new questions and develop a new hypothesis, according to Schmid.

"If you can speak to people on their own terms or get them to realise that there's something shared, some aspect of shared humanity, then they become much more open," he said.

"You see that when you're in the caves ... their ability to incite curiosity [and] beauty and creativity transcends culture."

Schmid traces his interest in Dunhuang to his first visit to Taiwan in 1983, when he visited Caves Books - a well-known bookshop, named after the Mogao Caves, that was established by James and Lucy Lo, a couple who visited Dunhuang in the 1940s.

He recalled pulling a book about the city from one of the shelves and being impressed by the historical and Buddhist stories it contained. Most of all, he was amazed by the erudition of the footnotes.

In the summer of 1987, Schmid was at the airport in Hong Kong when he saw someone holding a sign for Victor Mair - the University of Pennsylvania sinologist whose translation and footnotes had so impressed him years earlier.

Schmid waited with the greeter for the professor, who was attending an international conference in the city. He went on to study Dunhuang and ancient civilisations with Mair at the University of Pennsylvania.

"So it's all these remarkable connections. And I never thought in 1987 that one day I would be working in Dunhuang," Schmid said.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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