Silk Road · 600-1000

Dunhuang: an oasis on the Silk Road

At the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, Dunhuang watered caravans and filled a cliff with painted Buddhist caves. Students find out what a desert oasis meant for trade and faith, and why it held the oldest dated printed book in the world.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 800 to AD 700
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

At the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, Dunhuang watered caravans and filled a cliff with painted Buddhist caves. Students find out what a desert oasis meant for trade and faith, and why it held the oldest dated printed book in the world.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Dunhuang and explain why oasis towns were vital on the Silk Road.
  • Describe what the Mogao caves and their hidden library reveal about the people who passed through.
  • Explain why the Diamond Sutra of 868 matters for the history of printing.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 800

Edge of the desert

Open the map in 800 and zoom in on Dunhuang, at the western end of the Gansu corridor. Which empire controls it this year? (From the 780s it was ruled by Tibet for about 60 years.)

Open this view on the map
b

AD 800

Around the Taklamakan

Turn on Trade Routes. West of Dunhuang the Taklamakan Desert blocks the way. Follow the route on the map: does it pass north or south of the desert? Which oasis towns does it link?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 700

Faith on the move

Turn on Spreads > Buddhism and drag the slider slowly from 1 to 700. Watch Buddhism travel from India into China. Through which oasis towns does it pass?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why could caravans not cross the Taklamakan Desert in a straight line?
  2. Dunhuang was ruled by the Tang, then by Tibet, then by local Chinese governors. How might ordinary people there have felt about changing rulers?
  3. Why would merchants and travellers pay to have a cave painted full of Buddhas?
  4. The cave library held texts in Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Sogdian and other languages. What does that show about Dunhuang?
  5. The Diamond Sutra was printed in 868, nearly 600 years before Gutenberg. Why did printing matter so much for religion and learning?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Rule History as Wu Zetian, whose Tang empire fought Tibet for the Silk Road oases. Let students take turns making rulings. Then discuss: why did rulers far away in Chang'an care so much about a desert town like Dunhuang?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.