The Singing Sand Dunes ( Ming Sha Shan) in

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in Northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Dunhuang was a major ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, are the

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

that, when the wind blows, give out a singing or drumming sound. They are part of the

Kumtag Desert The Kumtag Desert (, "kum-tag" meaning "sand-mountain" in a number of Turkic languages), is an arid landform in Northwestern China, which was proclaimed as a national park in the year 2002. Definitions Broad The oval Tarim Basin with its central ...

. The Singing Sand Dunes were originally known as the "Gods' Sand Dunes" (). In the ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

'',

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

described the sound "as if listening to music when the weather is fine." During the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, they came to be called by the current name. As the Singing Sand Dunes and Crescent Lake constitute a AAAAA Tourist Attraction, they are frequented by many tourists in this city of the more famous

Mogao Caves The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...

. There are four better-known singing sand dunes in China, that include those of

Hami Hami (Kumul) is a prefecture-level city in Eastern Xinjiang, China. It is well known as the home of sweet Hami melons. In early 2016, the former Hami county-level city was merged with Hami Prefecture to form the Hami prefecture-level city with t ...

, which are usually said to give the best sound among the four, and those of Dunhuang. The tourist area at the site offers various facilities and activities such as ATV riding, paragliding, camel rides and sandboarding.

References

{{coord missing, China Physical phenomena AAAAA-rated tourist attractions Dunes of China Dunhuang Hami

See also

References