A soothing tune echoes through a grotto in the dusty Mogao caves of the Gobi desert in Gansu province, the muted colours of an elaborate Buddhist mural popping out of the wall in all its 3-D glory.
'You really feel as if you're standing inside the cave,' said Professor Jeffrey Shaw, dean of the school of creative media at City University.
Shaw was not speaking from the desert caves of Dunhuang in the mainland's north, but from a 3-D stereoscopic re-creation of part of the famous ancient sculptural site in Hong Kong.
The exhibition, put together by the university and the Dunhuang Academy, aims to give researchers and the public an experience similar to visiting the actual Unesco world heritage site, where some of the caves are already sealed off to prevent further environmental degradation due to tourism.
For now, only Cave 220 of the 493 in the network, also known as the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas, has been illustrated and brought to life.
'You go inside that cave and it's completely dark. We are basically trying to recreate the atmosphere of really being in the cave,' Shaw said.
'You have an interactive torch, a virtual torch that you can shine on the walls. This is similar to the real experience.'