Five-Color Beach

Five-Color Beach

Five-Color Beach is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

The Five-Color Beach scenic area is located 20 kilometers along the road from Burqin County toward Habahe County, on the northern bank of the Ertix River. It covers an area of six square kilometers.

In 2004, Hong Kong Shan Yue Industrial Co., Ltd. signed an agreement with the People's Government of Burqin County to invest 20 million yuan in developing the Five-Color Beach tourist scenic area. The project includes elements such as Yardang landforms and ecological environment construction around the Ertix River. To date, infrastructure such as scenic fences, large parking lots, the best viewing platforms in the scenic area, observation towers, landscape pavilions, wooden boardwalks, water and electricity facilities, star-rated independent restrooms, craft display halls, and scenic restaurants have been completed.

Upon entering the scenic area on foot from the parking lot, visitors first see statues of three sheep with large tails. As Altay is a livestock farming region, this symbolizes “three rams bring prosperity,” signifying peace and prosperity. On the left side of the gate is a calligraphy piece by Ye Qiqing, a member of the China Artists Association, president of Foshan Painting Academy in Guangzhou, and a national first-class artist, specially created for the scenic area.

Walking through the gate onto the colorful boulevard of the scenic area, you’ll find a star-rated restroom on the left and a craft display hall on the right. The hall showcases gold-stone paintings featuring views of Five-Color Beach and various tourist souvenirs. The display hall connects to the scenic area’s restaurant, which can accommodate up to 100 people, offering dining and leisure services for visitors.

The petrified wood exhibition area: Petrified wood, also known as wood fossil, refers to trees that were buried underground millions of years ago due to various reasons. Through chemical reactions in the surrounding strata, the woody components were replaced while retaining the original tree shapes, eventually forming fossils through petrification.

On the left side of the petrified wood exhibition area is a “visitor from outer space”—a meteorite. Depending on its chemical composition, it can be classified into three types: iron meteorites, stony-iron meteorites, and the most common stone meteorites. What you see here is a relatively rare stony-iron meteorite. Striking it with a hard object produces a metallic sound. It is also affectionately called the “Lucky Stone.” Walking around it is believed to bring good fortune for the year.

The scenic area has seven viewing platforms: “Cloud Dragon Platform, Longevity Mountain Platform, Danxia Platform, Sunrise Viewing Platform, Purple Light Platform, and River Viewing Platform,” all offering stunning panoramic views of Five-Color Beach.

The landform of Five-Color Beach is very unique—deserted Gobi terrain with bizarre rock formations. Long-term dryness and strong winds have transformed the originally flat landscape into numerous steep earthen mounds and shallow gullies. This peculiar landform is geologically known as “Yardang landform,” meaning “steep earthen mounds” in Uyghur. The formation of Yardang landforms depends on two key factors: one is the geological foundation that gives rise to such landforms—lake sedimentary strata; the other is external erosive forces, namely the powerful directional desert winds and water erosion.

Historical records suggest that Five-Color Beach was once a lake in ancient times. After geological changes, long-term weathering and rain erosion formed small hills. Over hundreds of millions of years, crustal movements led to the formation of extremely thick coal seams here. Later, after much geological change, the surface sand and stones covering the coal seams were eroded by wind and rain, exposing the coal which then burned away under the effects of lightning and sunlight. This resulted in the surreal natural landscape we see today. Due to varying resistance to weathering among rock layers, the resulting contours are uneven. The rock layers consist of red, yellowish-brown, purple, brown, gray, and light green sandstone, mudstone, and conglomerate. With rocks of diverse colors, the area is called “Five-Color Beach.” The eroded landforms resemble ancient castles, monsters, and peak clusters—all classic examples of Yardang landforms.

The setting sun bathes Five-Color Beach in radiant hues, and the Yardang landforms burst into a dazzling array of colors—a true masterpiece of nature. Hence, Five-Color Beach has become a quintessential representation of this type of landform.

The Five-Color Beach scenic area nestles along the banks of the Ertix River, the only river in China that flows into the Arctic Ocean. Stretching nearly 3,000 kilometers in total, with over 500 kilometers within China, the valley is broad and rich in aquatic resources—it is the second-largest river in Xinjiang. Spanning the Ertix River is the majestic Aketuke Steel Cable Bridge, an important crossing for Kazakh herders moving their livestock. It’s also a paradise for photography enthusiasts, where many award-winning works have been captured. On the opposite bank, you can see lush secondary river valley forests, known as the “Poplar Gene Bank,” which play a crucial role in water conservation and are vital for maintaining the stability of the local oases.

The unique scenery of Five-Color Beach is vividly summarized as “one river divides two shores, like two different worlds.” The southern bank features oases and deserts, while the northern bank has rugged cliffs with undulating terrain and ever-changing colors. Under the sunlight, the landforms appear even more magical and vibrantly colored—hence the name “Five-Color Beach.”

Address: Burqia Highway, Burqin County

Phone: 0906-6325170