Mingsha mountain has been formed for more than 3,000 years, and the record of mingsha has a long history.
It is a strange but universal natural phenomenon. In a desert or dune, due to the influence of various climatic and geographical factors, fine grains of sand, mainly quartz, are caused. Due to the vibration of the wind, the sand slides down or moves with each other, numerous grains of sand rotate in the airflow, and the place where the surface cavity causes the “diabolo” effect is buzzing is called the singing sand.
In the western part of China, mingsha is mainly desert. These dunes are piled into mountains, so they are also called mingsha mountains.
Dunhuang mingsha mountain and ningxia zhongwei city of shapo tou, Inner Mongolia darat banner yinkantara ring sand group and xinjiang balikun mingsha mountain known as the four China’s Ming sand.
The Mingsha Mountain is a popular attraction in Dunhuang to explore stunning desert scenery and take part in exciting sand dunes activities. The park consists of the Mingsha Mountain and the Crescent Lake surrounded by sand dunes of Mingsha Mountains. Dunhuang is also known as Shazhou (Town of Sand) in ancient time. This is how it gained the name.
For people who want to take a short stay in desert, the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Lake Nature Park is the best choice. It is close to the downtown of Dunhuang, without the harsh and extreme climate and convenient facilities are equipped. The easy walking trails allow different ages of tourists to explore the desert.
Dunhuang Mingsha Mountain (Echo Sand Mountain) is a sand mountain range hich stretches from the cliff where the Mogao Caves locates, to the Danghe Dam on the west. It is about 40km in length, 20km in width, 100m in average height. The highest altitude is 1650m.
The Mingsha Mountain is composed of tinny hyaline sands of five different colors – red, yellow, blue, white and black, and winds its way up and down showing different shapes. Some of the sand dunes stand like a golden pyramid, some lie as the fish scale, some wave like a snake.
The biggest feature of Mingsha Mountain is that the sand echoes here. When a strong wind blows, you can hear loud sound like roaring made by the moving sands. While when light wind blows, the sand echoes like some gentle sound of orchestral music. This is how the mountain gained the name of Mingsha.
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