Northwest China city reopens tourist attractions

LANZHOU -- The tourist city of Dunhuang, Northwest China's Gansu province, has reopened its major tourist attractions, according to local authorities.

Yueya Spring, a crescent-shaped lake surrounded by desert, a geopark and other tourist attractions of historical significance in the city were reopened to tourists on Tuesday.

Although the Mogao Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the city, is not yet open, tourists can visit the grottoes via online touring programs. The programs have attracted more than 5.7 million views on WeChat, the leading Chinese social media platform, according to the new media center of Dunhuang Academy.

"The online exhibitions helped people appreciate the art of Dunhuang at home," said Ding Xiaohong, an assistant director of the academy's institute of cultural relics digitization.

More than 80 hotels in the city have also resumed operations since Tuesday.

Dunhuang was among the first batch of tourist cities in China that were opened to the world in 1979. The city's tertiary industry with cultural tourism as its core has accounted for more than 60 percent of its GDP.