Today, the Mogao Grottoes are shielded by a comprehensive protection system that tackles multiple challenges ranging from sandstorms, creeping regional warmth to a rise in sudden, heavy rainfall as seen this summer.

　　These hard-won approaches have crystallized into the "Dunhuang Solution" for grotto conservation, a framework now applied across the six grotto sites under the Dunhuang Academy's purview, including the Mogao Grottoes and the Yulin Grottoes, also in Gansu.

　　Building on this success, Gansu Province, home to over 200 grottoes, plans to integrate its broader grotto resources into the monitoring platform, with customized risk-mitigation strategies tailored to the specific conditions of each site.

　　In 2014, "Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor," jointly nominated by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List.

　　The insights gained from the "Dunhuang Solution" are now being shared with other historic sites along the ancient Silk Road.

　　Recently, the Silk Road heritage conservation technology advanced training program was launched in Dunhuang, bringing together trainees from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan to study alongside their Chinese counterparts.

　　Nazira Duishombekova, a trainee from Kyrgyzstan, said cultural heritage is facing a range of new challenges, including climate change, which calls for modern methods for research, conservation and restoration. "This training will help us work together to meet the common challenges."

　　"Damage to caves is a dynamic, ongoing process. Preventing deterioration and ensuring the overall safety of murals remain our long-term mission," said Shui Biwen, deputy director of the center for cultural heritage conservation technology services of the Dunhuang Academy.