Hao Rumeng, 17, has been practicing Dunhuang dance for two and a half years. Her morning often begins at 6:30 in the studio and wraps up after eight hours of practice. Sometimes she ties a 10-kilogram sandbag to her legs to train her muscles. "Dunhuang dance is a new genre of classical dance. It has distinct movements and requires systematic training every day," Jin said.

A prototype of Dunhuang dance was born 40 years ago in the performance of Silk Road－a dance drama to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Inspired by the drama, Gao Jinrong, then vice-president of a provincial art school, formulated Dunhuang mural dance a year later.

Since then, Dunhuang dance has become a popular major, with nearly 1,000 graduates. The Lanzhou University of Arts and Science alone recruits 25 students every year.