[Photo Provided to China Daily]

Dunhuang gene

Chang, born in a Tibetan temple in Dunhuang, says a kind of Dunhuang gene runs in his blood. Against all odds, he sticks to his will, he says, which reminds him of his father Chang Shuhong.

His father once said that he preferred colorful Western paintings to Chinese traditional paintings represented by ink and wash. But when he saw an album of paintings compiled by Paul Pelliot, who visited the Mogao Grottoes early last century and took many precious sutra back to France, he was shocked by the beauty of this art from his hometown.

On returning to China and going to Dunhuang he was shocked to find that instead of colorful works much of what he saw was in ruins. He decided to stay to do his bit to protect the cultural relics.

"My father did that for the rest of his life," Chang Jiahuang says.

In building caves, he says, he is carrying out his father's wish to employ this ancient method to preserve today's culture and art for people 1,000 years hence.