Geographic location 

Dunhuang is located at the westernmost end of the Hexi Corridor, the intersection of Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang. The total area of the city is 31,200 square kilometers, of which the oasis area is 1,400 square kilometers, accounting for 4.5 percent of the total area.

Administrative divisions

Dunhuang has jurisdiction over 9 towns and 56 village committees. Shazhou town is the seat of the CPC Dunhuang Municipal Committee and municipal government, and is the political, economic and cultural center of the whole city.

Qili town, 7 kilometers west of the city, is a new oil town, which is now the seat of the Qinghai Petroleum Administration, and is the logistics and living base of the Qinghai Oilfield.

Population

Dunhuang city belongs to Jiuquan city, and has jurisdiction over 9 towns, with an urbanization rate of 68.45 percent and a total population of 200,000. Han ethnic group accounts for the vast majority of the total population, with 27 other ethnic groups, such as Hui, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Miao, Manchu, Tu, Kazak, Dongxiang and Yugur, only accounting for 2.2 percent of the total population.

Natural environment

Dunhuang has Sanwei Mountain in the east, Singing-sand Mountain in the south, the desert in the west, which is connected to the Taklimakan Desert, and the Gobi Dessert in the north, which is connected to the remaining veins of the Tianshan Mountains.

The total area of the city is 31,200 square kilometers, of which the oasis area is 1,400 square kilometers, accounting for 4.5 percent of the total area. The average altitude is 1,139 meters, the annual average rainfall is 42.2 mm, the evaporation rate is 2,505 mm, and the annual average temperature is 9.9 ℃. The annual average frost-free period is 152 days, making it a typical warm temperate arid climate.

Dunhuang oasis, nourished by the Danghe River, originates from the Danghe River in Qilian Mountains. It has a total length of 390 kilometers, a drainage area of 16,800 square kilometers and an annual runoff of 302 million cubic meters. It is the mother river of Dunhuang.

Culture and tourism

Tourism development: There are 265 cultural relics in Dunhuang, and 3 world cultural heritages, namely the Mogao Grottoes, the Yumenguan Site and the Xuanquanzhi Site; three of these are also part of the 4 national key cultural relics protection units, namely the Mogao Grottoes, the Yumenguan Site, the Xuanquanzhi Site, alongside the Great Wall in Dunhuang. There are a further 12 provincial cultural relics protection units; 1 municipal cultural relics protection unit; as well as 47 county-level cultural relics protection units. The Mogao Grottoes, known as a "cultural treasure", enjoys a high reputation at both home and abroad. In 1987, it was included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

Cultural industry: There are 287 business units of various cultural industries in the city, forming 12 categories and more than 3,000 varieties of cultural tourism characteristic commodities, including jade articles, camel crafts and woodcarving prints. There are 11 intangible cultural heritage protection projects in the city, including 1 at the national level (Dunhuang Quzi Opera), 3 at the provincial level (Dunhuang folk songs, Dunhuang colored sculptures and Dunhuang paper-cutting) and 8 at the municipal level.

Mines and natural resources

Mineral resources: There are 26 varieties of proven mineral resources in Dunhuang, including gold, silver, vanadium, iron, phosphorus, sulfur, asbestos and mirabilite (making up 4 categories: energy, metal, nonmetal and water vapor), of which are of high grade, have large storage capacities and are easy exploited.

The proven vanadium resource reserves are an estimated 1.539 million tons, accounting for 5 percent of the total amount, and ranking fourth in China. They are mainly distributed in the Fangshankou area, with an average grade of 0.86 percent and a maximum of 3 percent.

Light and heat resources: Dunhuang is one of the regions with the highest solar radiation in China, with annual sunshine of 3,257.9 hours. In 2010, Dunhuang was identified as the first demonstration base for one million kilowatts of solar photovoltaic power generation in China, and in 2011, it was listed as the second batch of new energy demonstration cities in China.

Wind energy resources: Dunhuang is windy all the year round, making it rich in wind energy resources. The annual average wind speed at a height of 70 meters in the Beihu area is 6.91 m/s, and the average wind energy density is 379.92 W/sq m. In 2012, a 250,000 kW wind power project settled in Dunhuang Beihu Wind Power Industrial Park, marking a zero breakthrough in the development of the wind power industry in Dunhuang.

Agriculture and forestry development

Dunhuang is one of the main producing areas of fruits, cotton and vegetables in Gansu province. The cultivated land area of the whole city is 373,400 mu (24,893 hectares), and the high-quality orchard area, producing mainly grapes, is 104,000 mu. The Dunhuang Grape Production Base has been awarded the title of "National High-quality Grape Production Base" by the China Fruit Marketing Association. In 2015, Dunhuang was identified part of the third batch of national modern agricultural demonstration zones.

Nature reserves

There are 2 approved national nature reserves and 1 provincial geological heritage nature reserve in the city, covering a total area of 788,000 hectares, and accounting for 25% of the total land area of the city. Among them, 660,000 hectares make up the West Lake National Nature Reserve, 88,200 hectares make up the Yangguan National Nature Reserve, and 39,800 hectares make up the Dunhuang Yadan Geological Relics Provincial Nature Reserve.