The first "A pilgrimage to Dunhuang" National Calligraphy Exhibition kicked off at Datang art gallery, in the city of Dunhuang, in Gansu province, on Dec 12th. Lian Ji, the minister of the Gansu's Publicity Department, was on hand at the opening ceremony.

The displayed 193 calligraphy works passed the evaluation and were selected from 6,000 works. After the opening ceremony, there was a calligraphy seminar with many specialists and scholars discussing calligraphy's value and influence, and commenting on the works of the Dunhuang calligraphy exhibition.

The organizers of the exhibition were China Calligraphers Association and Gansu's Publicity Department, along with the support of Dunhuang city government.

Dunhuang city intended to build the city's cultural brand through the calligraphy exhibition, which according to Lian Ji, "Dunhuang city works hard on promoting its culture industry, and the city is looking to attract more people who are interested in calligraphy and paying attention to Dunhuang's cultural development while enjoying calligraphy works."