Mount of Flames

(Local Name: Huoyanshan) On the road from Turpan to Gaochang stands the Mount of Flames (Huoyanshan), so called because the sun shining on its reddish rocks makes them glow as if on fire. The rocks are scarred by deep furrows formed by the action of flowing water during a wet period in a prehistoric age. In summer temperatures of more than 50°C (122°F) are reached here.

The mountain is well-known to the Chinese through the 16th C novel ''Journey to the West'' (''Xiyou Ji'') by Wu Cheng'en.