Echoing-Sand Dunes and Crescent Lake

Five kilometers south of the city of Dunhuang is Mingshashan (Echoing-Sand Dunes or Singing Sand Dunes). The hill is at an elevation of 1,715 meters, are actually made up of sand dunes .The sands reportedly make a humming sound when one slides down the sand dunes, hence the name.

Yueyaquan (aka Crescent Lake or Crescent Moon Spring) lies in a tiny oasis at the foot of Mingshashan. Spring water trickles up into a depression between huge sand dunes, forming a small, crescent-shaped spring. The spring is deep in the east and shallow in the west and is about five meters at the deepest point. It is blue and mirror smooth. The spring has remained unchanged for thousands of years despite of its location surrounded by shifting sand dunes. According to legend, the iron-backed fish and a medicinal herb called the seven-starred grass produced in the lake could prolong life. As a result, the spring is also referred to as the Spring of Longevity.