Dunhuang Dreams: Young Sparks, Painted Tales, a charity art exhibition that opened on Aug 15 at The Pool by X Museum in Shanghai, brings together 80 Dunhuang-themed paintings by 33 students from Koutouba Nine-Year School in Wenxian county, Longnan city, Northwest China's Gansu province.

The exhibition runs until Oct 11 and is a collaboration between X Museum, the Sunflower Initiative of the Beijing Apple Charity Foundation, Taikoo Li Qiantan Shanghai, and the Wenxian County Education Bureau.

Wenxian county sits deep within the lush Qinling-Bashan mountains in southeastern Gansu, while Dunhuang lies in the arid desert to the northwest. Despite these contrasting landscapes, history connects them. During the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), migrants from Wenxian settled in Dunhuang, establishing villages and linguistic ties that endure today. This cultural bridge now extends into the art classrooms at Koutouba Nine-Year School.

Despite having limited resources, local teachers created a distinctive curriculum focused on Dunhuang art. Students learn about color, line, and composition and use locally sourced materials, such as mountain soil, to make their own painting boards. Through practical experience, they reinterpret traditional grotto imagery, such as feitian (flying apsaras), the nine-colored deer, and the thousand Buddhas.

This Shanghai showcase is part of X Museum's broader mission to promote Dunhuang culture and the institution's commitment to advancing traditional Chinese culture.

X Museum says it aims to share the millennium-old Dunhuang culture with wider audiences, while fostering broader social participation in support of the long-term development of cultural philanthropy.

Source: China Daily