AI tech helps tourists enjoy Dunhuang's art like never before

On the evening of April 8, Dunhuang Academy and Huawei jointly launched a brand-new technology-driven tour experience at the Mogao Grottoes. Using Huawei's newly-released Hetu artificial intelligence platform, coupled with the output of the Digital Dunhuang project, visitors to the Mogao Grottoes can enjoy an immersive fantasy experience prior to entering the attraction.

At the news conference, Zhao Shengliang, director of the Dunhuang Academy, said that it has been cooperating with Huawei since March 2019. Using Huawei's latest Hetu technology, visitors are able to see the detailed contents of the Dunhuang art murals outside the caves, through their Huawei mobile phones. This will reduce the time tourists spend inside the cave, aiding the protection of the cultural relics, while at the same time helping to increase the amount of information visitors can obtain. It is also considered to be a new way of promoting Dunhuang art.

The Dunhuang Academy has used digital technology to preserve the research and exploration of Dunhuang Grottoes since the early 1990s. After nearly 30 years of hard work, it has collected a wealth of data and has realized the goal of sharing of digital Dunhuang globally. It has played an important role in the protection and research of cultural site, as well as promoting the development and progress of related work.

The Huawei Hetu platform fuses Dunhuang's study findings, high-resolution images of the site's murals and virtual, three-dimensional models with the real Mogao grottoes. It has not only re-created the real tour of the scenic spot, but also developed a new way of digitally experiencing the grottoes. When people visit the site, they not only have the experience of seeing the real grottoes, but they can appreciate the exquisite artworks more clearly and in greater detail.

In addition, this technology can more vividly present cultural elements, such as the Nine-color Deer and Flying Apsaras, that are portrayed in the murals at close range, further enhancing the visitors' experience and closeness to Dunhuang art.

In the future, Dunhuang Academy will continue to cooperate with Huawei to create more colorful virtual content to enhance the experience of Mogao art on the platform, helping people around the world get to know Dunhuang art better.