Deserts can be attractive

Hinterland of Badain Jaran Desert, Inner Mongolia

The Badain Jaran Desert covers an area of 47,000 sqaure kilometers in the north of Yoqi Alasha Prefecture of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Ranking third in China and the forth in world, the 83% of the desert is composed of thick groupings of Sand Dunes. Wuzhumu is the highest point in the Badain Jaran Desert, at an elevation of 1,700 meters.

Among the high dunes of the Badain Jaran Desert are over 140 inland lakes, with an area of 666 hectares, a unique desert sight. It is locally known as Haizi. Most of them are saline. The lake strech out below our feet, deep and clear. Surrounded by sand, they are like mother's charming smile or a teardrop on the sky. The area around Badain Jaran Monastery, deep in the interior, is the most mysterious part, attracting travelers from all over the world in recent years. Walking in the Badain Jaran Desert is like walking through thousands years of history. It feels like a pilgrimage to the high Alasha Desert Pyramid.

Hinterland of Taklamakan Desert, Xin Jiang

The Taklamakan Desert, lying in the center of the Tarim Basin and covering 337,600 sq meters, is the biggest desert in China and the second largest shifting sand desert in the whole world. From just about every standpoint, geography, ecology, psychology and symbolism, the Takalmakan Desert is a fearsome, nightmarish place which is called 'the Sea of Death'. Sven Hedin translated into 'if you go in, you won't come out'. Yet, it is the most charming place in which none of these could stop people trying to explore this desert. Maybe the real attraction is the sacred magic of the desert itself. It is the world's largest underground treasury of cultural relics. Luohan, Niya, Xiaohe, Milan and Dandanwulike etc. these famous ancient cities recorded the prosperity of the Silk Road. They are still sparkling in the wildness today.

Gurbantunggut Desert, Xin Jiang

Gurbantungut Desert lies in Xinjiang Junggar Basin. Some 48,000 sq meters in area. Fixed or semi-fixed sand ridges cover 97 percent of the desert. About a quarter of the annual rain precipitation falls in winter. There are several thousand hectares of well-protected virgin saksaul forest in the depths of the Gurbantunggut Desert. The Manas River wriggles its way northwest along the edge of the desert, finally disappearing into the desert. The river now had almost vanished. The only remains of it is just a dry riverbed left as a spillway. Gurbantunggut Desert is the northwest wind's masterpiece, the image of the invisible wind on the ground. When the wind blows, it seems to run, but it is still there when the wind stops. The sand fills everything between the earth and sky. When it reaches the Jiangjun Gobi, the northwest wind is blocekd by the Baytik Mountains between China and Mongolia, and turns south towards Hami(Kumul). Once past Urho, known as the 'devil city', the wind turns to another famous Xinjiang 'devil city'-Longcheng, and enters Lop Nur.

Sand Dune(Mingsha Hill) & Crescent Spring(Yueya Spring), Dunhuang Gansu

Located in Dunhuang City of Gansu Province, the booming Sand Dune and Crescent Spring creates an amazing deert view. As it is neare Dunhuang, it has a temple on its bank, adding to its fame. Mingsha Sand Dunes is stretching for more than 40km long and more than 20km wide. The hill is composed of five-color sands in red, yellow and green, balck and white.

The northern peak is cragged, steep and wonderful-looking like the sharp edge of a knife. Crescent Moon Spring lies in the arm of the dunes at the foot of Mingsha Hills, extending for 118km from west to the east but only 25m from south to the north. Despite being surrounded by the sand hills, the Spring has never been covered by quicksand and kept clear permenantly.

Shapotou, Zhongwei Ningxia

Shapotou stands in Zhongwei County, lies on the north bank of the Yellow River where it crosses the southeastern border of the Tengger Desert. And Shapotou Tourism Area is regarded as one of the five most beautiful deserts in Chian, and is widely recognized as the Capital of Sand. Standing on the sand hill, one can see the desert extending to the north, and to the south, a boundless oasis. Both the grandeur of the north of China and the elegance of the south come together in this lovely place.

Shapotou International Sand Slide Center is the biggest natural sand slide field in China. It is also one of China's Four Sounding Sand Fields. It is adventurous, breathtaking, strange and heady experience-not designed for the weak of heart. Besides, the cableway slide across the Yellow River at Shapotou has won fame as the First Yellow River Cablewya Slide. The cableway here is 820 meters long, 54 meters high above the water and the slide at an aveerage speed of 8 m/s(about 26 feet per second). The cableway at Shapotou is unique in China, in that it depends totally on gravity to set it in motion.