Original subtitles

As a reporter, I've traveled the Middle East

for many years.

It's an area that has always fascinated me.

But in my work, I've mainly covered its war zones,

it's crises and its tragedies.

This journey, which takes me down the Silk Road

in the footsteps of Marco Polo,

gives me the opportunity of exploring

the great historical and cultural significance

of this part of the world, its ancient melting pot

of peoples and civilizations that have contributed

so much to our own.

(thrilling Middle Eastern music)

(bird cries)

The singing sand fills the air with the sounds

of all sorts of musical instruments,

as well as the noise of drums and the striking of weapons.

Thus wrote Marco Polo, telling of his epic journey

across the Gobi, and Taklamakan Deserts

in the great Chinese far west.

After the trials of the Taklamakan,

the caravans officially arrived in China,

the first watering point at the edge of the desert,

the oasis of Dunhuang

was at the crossroads of the Silk Road.

In the Uyghur language,

Taklamakan means The Place From Which One Does Not Return.

Marco Polo said that this was because

of the jinns, or the desert demons which called

caravan drivers from dune to dune and misled them.

In practical terms, this is the phenomenon

of singing sand due to the sliding of sand

displaced by the wind.

(wind hums)

Only one animal can endure the crossing of these

vast deserts of the Chinese great west,

and that is the Bactrian camel.

The camel breeder, Yan Su Shi, is the first person we meet

who speaks Mandarin, the language of the Han ethnic group

and the official language of the People's Republic of China.

Although bordering the Uyghur region,

culturally we are well and truly in China now.

What's particular about the Bactrian camel,

what makes it so well-adapted to this region?

(speaking foreign language)

The particularity of the Bactrian camel

is its enormous energy.

They have much more energy than a dromedary.

For long journeys they are clearly much more robust.

They're overflowing with energy.

And what sort of distance can a well-trained

camel cover each day between caravan stages?

Generally speaking,

a camel carrying merchandise can cover more than

20 kilometers a day, even up to 25 kilometers.

(camel brays)

For long journeys we usually carry water with us.

If we ration it, we can give them something to drink

once a week, or even every two weeks.

So at what moment does a camel

draw on the reserves in its hump?

The hump represents a source of energy

for the camel.

This is where it draws its energy,

and not directly from water.

It consumes the fat stocked inside its hump.

As it gradually consumes this fat,

the hump deflates little by little.

What made you decide to become a breeder?

Is it a family tradition, or a passion?

(camel brays)

I chose this profession because of the

economic situation in the region.

We do this to earn a living.

We're people of the land.

And in addition to agriculture,

we can develop tourism in places.

That's why we decided to try and become involved

by raising camels, and thereby increasing our income.

Today does the Bactrian camel still have

a role to play outside of tourism?

Do certain nomads still use them?

(speaking foreign language)

Today the majority of camels

can be found in the tourist areas or zoos.

They're used for outings.

These days it's clear that camels

are hardly used by anybody except tourists.

But in China, tourism is a serious business.

Tens of millions of Chinese have achieve financial security

over the last few years, and the middle classes

are discovering holidays.

For Beijing, it's a question of directing

the sun lotion-daubed, selfie stick-wielding hordes

towards the treasures of the vast Gobi region.

It's a way of helping to integrate the Uyghurs

along with the tens of other minority ethnic groups

of the great west into the national culture.

Tourists are a godsend for the vast desert expanses

of Chinese Turkestan.

For centuries the Gobi region was separated from the world.

Since the end of the caravan age at the turn

of the Middle Ages, the stage post towns along the Silk Road

have become self-orientated.

The famous traveler Ella Maillart neatly refers to them

as the Forbidden Oases.

(birds chirp)

But tourist development brings in a new form of erosion

to this fragile ecosystem.

The geographer Jian Jun Qu studies, amongst other things,

the movement of dunes under the effect of the dominant winds

and the resulting impacts on the site of the

Crescent Moon Pagoda on the outskirts of Dunhuang.

How do you explain that the immense dunes around us

don't engulf the Buddhist pagoda and the oasis?

The Crescent Moon Oasis is preserved

because wind comes from the east and keeps the sand back.

By studying the way in which the wind blows

we discovered that it was from a generally eastern direction

and there were many trees and buildings which hindered it.

So we cut down the trees and demolished the buildings

to the east.

That allowed the wind to penetrate and carry the sand

from both sides towards the dunes.

The wind which blows across the oasis is the means

of its preservation.

Is your study of sand only useful

in the protection of historic sites,

or does it have other applications in modern life?

We study the laws governing sand

moving in the desert.

The influence this movement has upon human activity,

but also on towns, roads, transport,

including high-speed trains, and also historic monuments.

We study with minute precision the dangers which

sand movement represents.

In this way, we hope to protect monuments

and infrastructure.

In your opinion, have the dunes moved

very much, or were traders at the time of the Silk Road,

like, for example, Marco Polo,

greeted by the same landscape?

Between the time of Marco Polo

and the present day, there haven't been any great

changes at an environmental level,

but the look of the oasis has changed completely.

The surface area of the water has diminished

and particularly over there,

there were many temples and houses.

Everything was demolished and the water which disappeared

only returned during the 1990's.

(dull humming)

While crossing the desert, Marco Polo

describes a terrifying phenomenon which he calls demons.

Today we know that what he was talking about

was singing sand, but can you explain

what physically produces this?

The place where the sand sings,

as Marco Polo describes, is right here.

During the Han dynasty it was noticed

that as soon as the sand here began to slide,

it would make a noise.

In fact, on the surface of a grain of sand

there are many holes.

When it slides, they knock into each other

which produces this noise.

(low droning)

(motor purring)

China has more than 1.3 billion inhabitants.

It's the most populated country in the world.

And even though it's one of the largest,

there's beginning to be a serious lack of space

in the fertile regions of the south and the east.

So Beijing has decided to direct the over spill

towards the great expanses of the Gobi.

Han, the ethnic majority, are already almost as numerous

as the Uyghurs in the northwestern provinces.

Airport, motorways, 30-story buildings,

the sleepy oasis of Dunhuang is being modernized

at lightning speed with the help of colossal investment.

(speaking foreign language)

So, since the menu is only in Chinese,

I'll have to make a guess.

(speaking foreign language)

(both conversing in foreign language)

Ah, tea!

For the interviews, I have a translator.

But this evening, I need to get by on my own.

(speaking foreign language)

To be consumed in moderation: Chinese beer.

(slurping)

It's a bit spicy.

Actually, very spicy.

But it's good.

Tagliatelle, I think from rice.

It's not wheat pasta, it's rice pasta.

(slurping)

I'm eating the Chinese way, which is not quite like our own.

It's a bit noisier, but with these sort of chopsticks

it's quite efficient.

You need to be agile

to eat spicy tagliatelle with chopsticks.

(speaking foreign language)

Ah! (puffing)

And beer helps, too.

(glasses clinking)

(chatter and laughter)

Historically, the oases of the Gobi Desert

are where Indian, Iranian, and Chinese influences

came together.

For travelers along the Silk Road it was a foretaste

of the Middle Empire.

It was in Dunhuang that Marco Polo discovered Buddhism

for the first time.

He was probably the first westerner to come across

this religion.

He called them the idol worshipers.

The Buddhism which Marco Polo came across

is, in fact, Lamaism, that's to say Tibetan Buddhism,

which at this period took in Sichuan and the whole

regional curve as far as Mongolia.

There was another aspect of Tibetan culture

which greatly intrigued and shocked Marco Polo

which he described as the polyandry of the Tibetans.

"I can certify", he wrote, "that if a stranger comes to stay

"at a man's house, he orders his wife to do whatever

"the stranger pleases.

"And he goes away, and only comes back home

"when he knows the stranger has left

"so that the latter can spend a good time with his wife

"for as long as he likes.

"This is good, because the women are most beautiful."

You can't help feel that there's an autobiographical

dimension to the description of the world.

(chatter and street music)

Marco Polo also indicated that Buddhists were

very numerous in Dunhuang.

"They have many abbeys which are full of idols

"to which they make rich sacrifices,

"and show great honor and great reverence,"

wrote the Venetian adventurer.

At the edge of Dunhuang

begins the Valley of the Thousand Buddhas,

one of the most important archeological sites

in all Chinese culture.

The valley is hollowed out with little caves

which form a sort of immense hive 500 meters long

made up of cells and rocky halls nestling into the cliffs.

While tourists come to amuse themselves in the dunes

at the sacred site of one of the thousand Buddhas,

it's above all for a visit or a pilgrimage

that they flock to Dunhuang.

Introduced in China 2,000 years ago,

Buddhism greatly prospered all along the Silk Road.

Along with Confucianism and Taoism,

Buddhist thinking makes up the (speaking foreign language),

that's to say the three-school system which structures

Chinese culture.

The vestiges of the Dunhuang site spread out

over a millennium from the fourth to the 14th century.

But it was at its height during the Tang dynasty,

a little before the year 1,000 when the Chinese empire

spread out to the West as far as present-day Kazakhstan.

Its style is that of Mogao art, or excessive cave style,

explains Professor Shu Dong Huang,

head curator of the site,

an image which appears totally apt when confronted

with this gigantic statue of Buddha in meditative pose.

(peaceful music)

The Valley of the Thousand Buddhas contains 492 caves.

This one is the most famous.

Could you explain what it is we see here?

The cave in which we are standing

is very well-known.

It's number 96.

It houses the biggest Buddha in the valley.

This great Buddha, which is 36.5 meters tall,

was built at the end of the 7th century.

The Empress Wu Zetian was in power,

and she decided to build statues of Maitreya

throughout her kingdom.

It was under her regime that the Dunhuang people

began to construct this great Buddha.

Today it is the largest interior Buddha

in the history of China.

Looking at this immense Buddha,

we obviously think of the Buddhas of Bamiyan

which were blown up by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

What's the history of Central Asian Buddhism?

If we compare this Buddha with those

of Bamiyan, the latter are much older.

Because we know that Buddhism has its origins in India.

It crossed the Middle East,

and then (speaking foreign language) before arriving

in the central plain of China.

It's the route which Buddhism followed

which allowed it to spread.

All the art of Buddhism was created in Gandhara,

a region of present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The original form of this Buddha

was of Middle Eastern influence, from Gandhara.

Originally founded by descendants of soldiers

of Alexander the Great, the Greco-Buddhist Gandhara

kingdom produced the first effigies of Buddha

with a human face, of which those of the Mogao Caves

are descendants.

What could be more moving than these last examples

of Hellenic art lost in the depths of the sand of the Gobi?

The Mogao Caves stand as a reminder of the movement

of ideas and beliefs along the ancient Silk Road.

These marvelous frescoes covering the walls

depict the teachings of the Buddhas who arrived in China

at the end of antiquity.

But several paintings also contain earlier symbols and myths

from much farther away towards the West.

Certain Chinese researchers are convinced that this crowded

and gaudy parietal art notably bears traces of Greek

and Roman mythology,

as with this image of the God of the Moon,

and this God of the Sun, shown riding a chariot

like the Greek god Helios.

Then there are these impish characters

which look surprisingly like certain masks

out of Greco-Roman theater.

Other influences are Persian, like these armored horsemen,

images from the chivalry of the Sasanians

who ruled over Iran.

Today historians and curators are at total liberty

to preserve these masterpieces.

For several decades, the communist regime in China

dreamt of a cultural revolution which would wipe out

all the traces of the past.

But utopias evolve, and today the authorities

are pleased to show off all that has contributed

to the greatness of Chinese civilization.

(anticipatory music)

(speaking foreign language)

Ah, a helmet.

Of course.

Okay.

The historian Su Bumin is in charge

of the restoration of caves which are closed to the public.

In a country as highly-disciplined as China,

it's a huge privilege to be allowed to visit

an ongoing work site.

When does this colossal statue of Buddha date from?

When was it built?

This Buddha was built during the Tang dynasty

more than 1,000 years ago.

(speaking foreign language)

Historians and archeologists who do research

into the history of these Buddhist caves

consider that this Buddha would have principally

been built by local artists.

What techniques were employed for statues

of this size?

They first dug out the outline,

the basic form, that is to say, the shape of the body

of the Buddha.

Next they applied a layer of clay.

Then, over the top of this clay, they added another layer

of clay which was thicker and mixed with straw.

After this, they added a layer of fine clay

which was mixed with cotton, or other such thin fibers,

and onto this color was painted, and motifs were added.

We know that these cultural relics age

with the passing of the years.

They are submitted to the influence of all sorts of factors,

be they natural or human.

So we attempt to slow this influence down.

In Mogao the warm and very dry air

of the desert is a great help to restorers

because it's helped to conserve the original pigment.

So is that the original?

Yes, original.

(restorers talking quietly)

The Chinese approach is also

wonderfully innovative.

There are no half measures here.

The authorities decided to entirely digitalize

all the walls of the Mogao Caves from floor to ceiling

in addition to thousands of manuscripts

conserved among the statues.

This intricate work is directed by Professor Wu Zhen,

and makes it possible for previously inaccessible images

to be made public.

Digitalizing 492 caves is a colossal task.

How's it coming along?

Research into digitalization began

some 20 years ago.

We've now finished digitalizing the category A caves,

110 of them in all.

(speaking foreign language)

About 120 caves have also been digitalized

in 360 degree panoramic.

Now at the same time, in April 2016,

we put online the 30 most important caves

in order to share them with the whole world.

Could you give me a concrete example

of a historic discovery which has come about

thanks to digitalization?

Yes, this huge digitalization work

has produced some astonishing results.

For example, in the digitalization of cave number 61

there's a large fresco depicting Mount Wu Tai.

For this fresco, we took more than 4,000 photos

then pieced them together into one image.

It contains a lot of detail which couldn't be seen before.

For example, we can see images of people from the mountain,

some foreigners, but also certain jokes

which the painters made, like the images of benefactors

who have been given pig-like noses.

These things were never noticed before.

I'd become increasingly aware of something

with each new encounter, whether it be around

the town market, or visiting the caves of the Buddhas.

As of Dunhuang, you really begin to enter China

in the cultural and ethnic sense of the term.

Borders make themselves known in many ways:

barbed wire, lines painted on the ground,

or a simple customs post.

Most of those I've crossed have continually moved

over the course of history.

I've never liked borders.

As with all reporters, they've often impeded me

in my work, or slowed down my travels.

But 100 kilometers north of Dunhuang can be found

one of the most famous borders of them all.

Many people even claim that this is the greatest work

ever undertaken by mankind: the Great Wall of China.

At its very western extremity is situated the single

crossing point authorized for all travelers

along the Silk Road, an austere fortified gate

which guarded the western limit of the Han empire.

It's called the Jade Gate.

Certain travelers had to wait here for more than a year

in order to obtain permission from Beijing to enter

the lands of the Sun of the Sky.

The ancient Silk Road.

It doesn't look like much with these two little granite

stelae, but in fact, it's quite a moving place because

we are precisely on the route of the ancient Silk Road.

(speaking foreign language)

To the west were what the Chinese

called the Barbarians.

And to the east was China.

Merchants who wanted to enter China

were obliged to head for the Jade Gate

which they went through at this precise point.

This is where they passed for centuries,

and therefore, it was precisely here that Marco Polo

passed, and here, too, that his Arab counterpart

passed a century later, the explorer Ibn Battuta.

Built between the mountains on one side

and the marshes on the other, the proud fortress

controlled a real bottleneck where caravans were scrutinized

and smuggling was prevented.

In the Jade Gate can be seen the whole point

of the Great Wall.

In the second century B.C.E. the emperor Han Wudi

crushed the Xiongnu, the nomads who dominated

the entire part of the Gobi, and who would become

the Huns who would attack Europe.

In order to protect his conquests,

the emperor lengthened the Wall of China

which was 7,000 kilometers long at this point.

There were no more rocks, so instead he used

rammed earth, straw, and gravel to continue

the biggest construction that humans have ever built.

(soothing music)

Chinese civilization has a 4,000 year history.

It's still considered to be the center of the world

from whence the name Middle Empire.

And I finally made it here.

(cheerful Asian music)