Scenery of Flaming Mountain

Scenery of Flaming Mountain

The scenery of Flaming Mountain is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

Flaming Mountain is located 10 kilometers northeast of Turpan City, stretching from east to west. It is 98 kilometers long and 9 kilometers wide, with its main peak standing at an elevation of 831.7 meters. In the peak of summer, under the scorching sun, the blazing heat rises in rolling currents, and the reddish-brown mountain appears as if it’s ablaze with fire.

A mountain need not be tall to be famous—if it has legends, it will be renowned. Flaming Mountain is just such a mountain. It lies on the northern edge of the Turpan Basin. Ancient texts refer to it as Chishi Mountain, while in Uyghur it is called Keziletagh, meaning “Red Mountain.”

The Flaming Mountain range runs from east to west. It starts from Langgan Liusha River in Shanshan County in the east and ends at Taogou in Turpan in the west, spanning 100 kilometers in length and reaching up to 10 kilometers in width at its broadest point.

Flaming Mountain is rugged and barren, with not a blade of grass in sight. In the height of summer, when the sun blazes overhead and the earth’s heat rises in swirling clouds, it resembles a soaring fire dragon—an awe-inspiring spectacle.

Legend has it that the story of Tang Sanzang being blocked by Flaming Mountain on his journey to retrieve Buddhist scriptures, and Sun Wukong borrowing the banana fan three times, took place here. Flaming Mountain is situated in the central part of the Turpan Basin and is mainly composed of red sandstone and mudstone from the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary periods of the Mesozoic Era.

The mountain features deep, winding ridges and is crisscrossed with numerous gullies.

No vegetation grows on the mountain, leaving the bedrock exposed. In the hot summer, under intense sunlight, the red mountain radiates waves of heat, with crimson clouds swirling above, resembling blazing flames.