The Dunhuang Academy is launching an English-language website so as to better promote the cultural site abroad.

Dunhuang was an important city on the ancient Silk Road and is home to the Buddha Caves, which are full of rare paintings and carvings of ancient Chinese life.

Zhuang Yuanlin, the Deputy Director of the Academy's Data Center says the website will cover a wide range of information, including academic research, efforts to protect the caves and other tourist attractions.

A search engine for Dunhuang study documents has also been established to help the burgeoning numbers of netizens quickly find the information they need. 

Set up 60 years ago, the Dunhuang Academy is now a world leader in aspects of cultural relics protection and research into cave painting.

The website of Dunhuang Academy is www.dha.ac.cn

(CRI.com February 2, 2005)