Historical records of Mohe Yanqi

According to records, this place is "8 miles long, called Shahe in ancient times, with no birds, no animals and no aquatic plants", and its natural environment is extremely harsh. Here, Xuanzang encountered the most sinister test on the way to the west, and only by faith and perseverance did he cross this place.

Datang The biography of Master Sanzang (Zhonghua Book Company, 2, p. 17) says: "At night, the demon raises a fire and shines like a star; In the daytime, the wind is bad and the sand is scattered like rain. "

Mohe Yanqi, in the southeast of Yizhou (now Hami, Xinjiang), is a long moraine outside Yumen Pass.

Mohe Yanqi, in the southeast of Yizhou (now Hami, Xinjiang), is a long moraine outside Yumen Pass.

Mohe Yanqi, also known as 8 Li Han Hai, is the famous Kashun Gobi between Hami and Anxi today. It is the most concentrated and complex Gobi in the connecting zone between eastern Xinjiang and the western end of Hexi Corridor.

The climate in this area is extremely dry, and the annual precipitation is below 3mm. It is the plateau area with the strongest dry erosion, and almost all the ground is barren.

Because it is close to Anxi, it is influenced by the strong winds in Anxi, and the strong winds roar here all the year round. In addition, Kumutage Shalong and Yadan are widely distributed, which adds an ever-changing atmosphere.

"Four nights and five days without a drop of water touching the throat, my mouth and abdomen are dry and burnt, and I will almost die". It will be a nightmare for anyone to remember the 8-mile shifting sand between Yiwu and Guazhou.

After a narrow escape from this dangerous quicksand river, Tang Xuanzang still had a lingering fear when he recalled Moheyan's moraine: "Moheyan's moraine is 8 miles long and was called Shahe in ancient times. The Journey to the West turned it into a surging quicksand river, where the sand monk waited for the story of Xuanzang. ) There are no birds on the ground, no animals on the ground, and there are no water plants to look after. After four nights and five days, the dry stomach will be exhausted. Looking around, at night, the demon is holding a fire, and it is like a star. At day, it is shocking and sand, and it is raining. " Coincidentally, the famous 19th-century adventurer and cultural thief Pul Gerval's passing through Mohe Yanqi was also nerve-racking, which verified Xuanzang's feelings.

It was a day in 1879, and he wrote in his diary: "The moraine is a wavy plain with a diameter of 11 kilometers and an altitude of 1,6 meters. It is full of high platforms and loess cliffs like towers. The soil is covered with pebbles mixed with gravel. There are no plants, animals, even lizards and insects in the Gobi. During the day, the ground is hot and covered with a layer of smoke.