What was found at Gonur-Depe was amazing: the ruins of a huge palace complex, the foundations of shops and houses, the remains of thick walls and towers that fortified the city.
All these findings seem to indicate that they are the remains of an ancient civilization that was every bit as advanced as other more famous civilizations of the time.
Spain has lovely white towns and the scent of oranges, but it is also a treasury of ancient remains including the cities left by the Greeks, Romans and Arabs.
Unlike the Great Wall, a monument to China's strenuous efforts to keep outsiders at bay, ancient Dunhuang was inclusive, a fitting theme for the contemporary era of China's global reach.