The Flaming Mountains
Located in China Xinjiang Province, the Flaming Mountain is a barren, eroded, red sandstone mountain. The erosion of the sandstone rock has given the mountain an appearance of being on fire. The Flaming Mountain is located 10 kilometers east of Turpan City near the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. The area is one of the harshest in China with temperatures often reaching 50°C. When the Ancient Silk Road was in operation, the Taklamakan Desert was avoided by merchant traders. The mountain’s highest peak is over 800 meters high. It rises above Shengjinkou Pass, a pass located near the Ancient City of Gaochang.
There are many origin legends surrounding the mountain. In the classic Chinese novel Journey to the west, the Monkey King goes up to heaven, wrecks the place, and after stealing pills of immortality created in a magical oven, knocked the oven over, causing the coals to fall to earth and they became the Flaming Mountain.
According to the local Uyghur Ethnic Minority Group’s tradition, a dragon lived under the Tianshan Mountain. The dragon destroyed villages and ate children in the surrounding area. A Uyghur hero killed the dragon and chopped his body into eight pieces. The dragon’s blood became the mountain and the eight pieces of his body became the eight valleys in the Flaming Mountain.
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