"Advance to Mogao Caves" is the name of the Archeological data Project "website of Academia Sinica’s Institute of History & Philology which has consumed half of a year of time; It is also the fourth project for Grandpa Shih (the embodiment of the former archaeologist Mr. Shi Zhang-ru) and little Ah-tai. After Grandpa Shih explains the culture of horse chariots during the Shang dynasty to Ah-tai, and takes him to all the historic ruins of Taiwan as well as to prehistoric stone tool manufacturing sites, the two of them step foot for their first time in north-western China. They reinvestigate the Mogao caves of Dunhuang Grandfather Shi investigated in his youth; they embark on an unprecedented journey.

In 1942 the war of resistance against Japan was at its height, however, the archaeological work of the Institute of History & Philology (which had not yet moved to Taiwan) did not cease to move forward. At the time, a wave of interest in the northwest swept across the government and the people; Shi Zhang-ru joined the "Sino-Swedish Expedition" along with Mr. Lao Gan amid the excitement. They traveled to the distant Mogao caves of Dunhuang in Gansu Province and conducted three months investigative work. Because the focus of the study was not centered on religious art, but rather on historic geography, therefore they focused on drawing maps and recording information about the caves. People can now see the images taken and drawn by these two men in their investigation as well as maps of the caves.

The website is organized into four major sections: "A Long, Long Time Ago," "Grandpa Shih's Storytime," "How Much do you know?" and "More about Mogao. " Grandpa Shih's Storytime" is divided into four sections. "A Long, Long Time Ago" serves as a prologue to Grandpa Shih’s journey; it introduces basic information about the Mogao caves, about Mr. Lao Gan before his investigation, and the interesting events that took place during his travels. After the two arrive at the caves, Grandpa Shih talks about ancient times, and this makes up most of the content on the website. Grandpa Shih uses different focal points within the cave to clear up Ah-tai's confusion, including describing how to "see" the many stories portrayed in the paintings, the contents of the caisson ceilings and the change in the structure of the cliff caves etc. In order to help viewers understand the detailed paintings, many of the paintings are introduced in segments. After following Grandpa Shih and Ah-tai through their travels, there are 10 "How much do you know" quiz questions. Finally, "More about Mogao" carefully chooses some related topics, website and book material to allow users who have interest in deepening their understanding of Mogao to do so. The collection of sources makes it convenient for readers to search for information by including ISBN numbers and publication numbers, allowing them to avoid the inconvenience of copying the names of titles. With the website mainly targeting elementary and middle school students, the wording is as plain and vernacular as possible. At the same time it was taken into consideration that students have not yet memorized many characters. Therefore, sounds and Bopomofo (phonetic transliterations) help them read and understand the content.

Grandpa Shih's Storytime: What's in the Caves?

Grandpa Shih's Storytime: Colorful Ceiling

How much do you know?

At the end of 2009, this project began the task of digitizing black and white negatives. It has been especially rigorous work to find information in order to check for any errors in the explanations of the images that Mr. Shi Zhang-ru compiled, including referencing Paul Pelliot and images published by Dunhuang Academy. Through these comparisons, the cave numbers and locations could be verified. The time costs and benefits were not proportional in this process, yet, as our knowledge of the Mogao caves continued to deepen, I started to realize that there were many interesting areas that could be shared with everyone using the method of science popularization and I then I began to design the structure and content of "Advance to Mogao Caves" the following year. The Dunhuang Research Institution published a series of colored  photographs of the caves in the 1980's called "Dunhuang Mogao Caves"; to make the website more appealing, through the assistance of Mr. Lin Sheng-zhi, we applied for the rights to over 20 of these colored photographs, so as to make it seem that viewers were actually in the caves. Finally, let us advance together towards the Mogao caves and explore the precious treasures!