Chang Jiahuang started opening modern caves not far from the Mogao Grottoes, in accordance with his father Chang Shuhong's will. Photos Provided to China Daily

In ancient times when creating murals on the walls in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu province, artists depicted not only stories and images from Buddhist classics, but also of the caves' financial backers, the likes of which can be seen on the passage walls of caves 9, 61, 130 and 196.

Fifty-nine kilometers from the Mogao Grottoes and 3 kilometers from the Western Thousand-Buddha Cave, those living today are given the chance to have their likeness portrayed on the walls of Dunhuang Modern Grottoes.

Two years after Chang Shuhong, founder of Dunhuang Academy, died in 1994, his wife Li Chengxian and his son Chang Jiahuang started opening modern caves not far from the Mogao Grottoes, in accordance with the father's will. In doing so they used money they had saved and collected over the years.

Chang Jiahuang even sold some of his paintings to invest in the caves. His mother died of cancer in 2003 and left a tidy sum of money to him to open more caves.

For two decades Chang has poured millions of yuan into the caves, in the face of a great deal of skepticism from many people who question his motives. He quit his highly paid job in Japan and his wife divorced him, taking their two children with her.

"There have been many difficulties with the project, and they certainly haven't just been financial," Chang says.

He has been in Japan recently, and this week signed a two-year contract with an organization called Japan-China Cultural Exchange Promotion which entails both parties working on developing Cave 5 of Dunhuang Modern Grottoes. As usual, Chang says, he will foot the cost of design and construction.