These red sandstone hills run along the northern edge of the Turpan Depression,beginning just northeast of Turpan.The range is 100 kilometers long and about 10 kilometers wide.When the sun’s rays beat down in mid-afternoon,the hillsides appear to be engulfed by tongues of fire,and the reflected heat is intense.In the famous 16th century Chinese allegorical novel Journey to the west by Wu Cheng’en,Xuan Zang and his bizarre companions,Pigsy,Monkey and Sandy,attempted to cross them but could not penetrate the flames.Monkey procured a magical palm-leaf fan from Princess Iron Fan,wife of the Ox Demon King,and waved it 49 times,causing heavy rains to fall and extinguish the fire,The locals now add that,while attempting to cross the Flaming Mountains,Monkey burnt his tail,and ever since then all monkeys have had red bottoms.
Aiding Lake,also names Moon Lake,located 55 kilometers southeast of Turpan,in the heart of the Turpan Depression,is a most dismal place,a salt puddle at the bottom of the second lowest continental basin in the world,154 meters below sea level.The surface of the lake is completely encrusted with an ice-like layer of salt,and its shores are like quicksand,Glauber’s salt-used in detergents and as a diuretic-is manufactured here in a factory employing 3000 people.In the winter the lake freezes over,and trucks move out onto the surface collecting frozen salt to dump into troughs beside the lake.There it melts in the searing summer temperatures,which can reach 65℃.Several Han Dynasty beacon towers loom over the lakeside.
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