Crescent Spring

Yueya spring is located at the northern foot of Mingsha mountain, 5km south of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province. Since ancient times, it has been famous for the wonderful landscape of "coexistence of mountain and spring, coexistence of sand and water", known as "one of the most beautiful scenery outside the Great Wall", and designated as a national key scenic spot in 1994.

Yueya spring is located at the northern foot of Mingsha mountain, surrounded by Mingsha mountain. It is 300 meters long from east to west, 50 meters wide from north to south, and about 5 meters deep. The shape of the spring is like a crescent moon, so it is called Yueya spring. In ancient times, it was called "Shajing", also known as "Yaoquan". It was once falsely said that "wowa pool" was named "Yueya spring" in Qing Dynasty. It covers an area of 0.88 hectares, with an average water depth of about 3 meters. The water is sweet and clear as a mirror. The spring is surrounded by Mingsha mountain, but it is not covered by quicksand. It is always rippling blue waves, clear to the bottom, long rain does not overflow, and long drought does not dry up. The spring is filled with stars and grass, iron fish and waves. The scenery is very beautiful. The magic of it is that quicksand can never fill the spring.

Crescent Spring

Crescent spring < I (English: Crescent Lake) < / I located in crescent spring scenic area, formerly known as Shajing, commonly known as Yaoquan, is located at the northern foot of Mingsha mountain, 5km southwest of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province.

Yueya spring is nearly 100 meters long from north to South and 25 meters wide from east to west. The spring is about 5 meters deep in the East and shallow in the West. It is as curved as a crescent moon. Therefore, it is named "the first spring in the desert". It has been one of the "eight Dunhuang sceneries" since the Han Dynasty. It was listed as a national scenic spot in 1994.

In Yueya spring, there are Eupatorium and CHAROPHYTES. On the south bank, there are dense reeds, surrounded by quicksand. Although there is strong wind, the spring is not covered by sand. Because "the spring reflects the moon and is free of dust", "the ancient sand does not fill the spring, and the spring does not dry up", it has become a wonder. Mingsha mountain and Yueya spring are twin sisters in the desert and Gobi. "Mountains sing with spirit, and water is beautiful with spirit.". It has the feeling of "the pleasant nature of Mingsha mountain and the heart washing by crescent spring".

Yueya spring is one of the most outstanding natural landscapes in Dunhuang. It is famous for its "desert wonder" and "one of the most beautiful scenery outside the Great Wall". The crescent spring, the nine storey building of Mogao Grottoes and the artistic landscape of Mogao Grottoes are the "three wonders" in the south of Dunhuang City, and become the tourist attractions that people in China and even the world yearn for.

Historical overview

Yueya spring was a tourist attraction as early as the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, there were boat boats and temples beside springs. On the South Bank of the spring, there is a group of ancient simple, elegant and well arranged buildings. From the east to the west, there are more than 100 rooms, such as Niangniang hall, Longwang palace, Bodhisattva hall, Yaowang cave, and leishentai. There are more than 100 painted sculptures and hundreds of murals in the main temples. Plaques and inscriptions are hung in important halls, such as "the first spring", "unique world", "semi regular spring", "potential connecting Kunlun", "Mastering heaven and earth", etc. At that time, there were pavilions and pavilions, magnificent temple appearance, palace hall and colonnade, and it was set up near the water. The trees are luxuriant, the spring light and the mountain scenery match each other, and the ancient temples are surrounded by perennial incense. There are many poets in the past who play, chant poems and write poems. According to historical records, in 113 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty got Tianma in the wowa pool. Later generations suspected that Yueya spring was the wowa pool of the Han Dynasty, so they set up a stone tablet called "wowa pool of the Han Dynasty". "Wild horses flying in sand on all sides, and the shadow of a pool is a magic dragon.". Thus, the strange crescent spring adds to the legend.

geographical position

Mingsha mountain crescent spring scenic spot is located 5 kilometers south of Dunhuang City, with a planning area of 212.86 square kilometers, a scenic area of 76.82 square kilometers and a core area of 12.79 square kilometers.

Mingsha mountain and crescent spring are twin sisters in the desert and Gobi

Therefore, water is beautiful with its spirit. There is a sense of "the pleasant nature of Mingsha mountain and the heart washing by crescent spring".

With the vigorous development of tourism, the local government has taken various construction and protection measures for the scenic spot, which has greatly improved its appearance. At the same time, it has also carried out sand therapy, sand skiing, skydiving, camel riding and other desert entertainment projects, which makes tourists interesting and endless.

The origin of the name

The origin of legend

There is another story about the formation of crescent spring and Mingsha mountain: Once upon a time, there was no Mingsha mountain or crescent spring, but a Leiyin temple. One year, on the eighth day of April, the temple held an annual Buddha Bathing Festival. All the believers and men burned incense in the temple to worship the Buddha. When the Buddhist activities came to "sprinkling holy water", the abbot brought out a bowl of Leiyin temple ancestral holy water and put it in front of the temple door. Suddenly, I heard an outsider challenge loudly to compete with the abbot. In a moment, the sky was dark and the wind was strong. Yellow sand covered the sky and buried Leiyin temple at the bottom of the sand. The strange thing is that the holy water in front of the temple is still in place. The magician uses all his magic to fill the bowl with sand. However big the magic is, there is no sand in the bowl. Until a sand mountain formed around the bowl, the holy water bowl was as safe as ever. The warlock had no choice but to leave bitterly. After just a few steps, suddenly there was a roar. Half of the bowl of holy water tilted into a clear spring, and the warlock turned into a pool of black rocks. It turns out that this bowl of holy water was originally given by Buddha Sakyamuni to the abbot of Leiyin temple. It has been handed down from generation to generation and is specially for people to eliminate diseases and disasters, so it is called "holy water". As a result of the evil done by the exorcists, they showed their punishment and made the bowl pour into the spring, forming the crescent spring.

Cause of formation

There are four explanations for the origin of crescent spring

First, the ancient river remains lake. It is believed that YueYaQuan is an ancient channel of Danghe river nearby. A long time ago, Danghe river changed its course, and most of the ancient channels were submerged by quicksand. Only YueYaQuan is a low-lying section, because of the underground undercurrent, it gathered into a lake. The lake water is constantly replenished by the underground current, so it will not dry up. In the 1950s, the water surface of Yueya spring was 218 meters long from east to west, 54 meters wide from north to south, with an average water depth of 5 meters and more than 7 meters deep.

Second, fault seeping spring. It is considered that there is an EW trending fault on the south side of Yueya spring. The hanging wall of the fault raises the aquifer, and when the footwall drops to the nearby phreatic surface, the undercurrent flows out to form the spring.

Third, wind erosion lake. That is to say, with the aggravation of wind erosion, the original depression formed a spring lake in the inner bay of crescent dune when it reached the depth of phreatic surface. Because the sand mountain around Yueya spring is high in the north and South and low in the middle, and the wind blows from the East into the surrounding depression, the wind will go up, and the sand under the action of wind always rolls up along the ridge and sand surface, so the sand will not blow into the spring, and the Sand Mountain always keeps the shape of ridge and blade, which forms the wonder of the existence of sand spring.

Fourth, manual excavation. It is believed that the shape of crescent spring is exactly the same as that of half moon, which is the result of artificial modification. In addition, there are records of "manhole" in ancient books. Since the well must be the result of human labor.

Alias source

This is from a legend. When Sanzang of Tang Dynasty went to the west to get scriptures, he passed Dunhuang. Because it was a boundless desert, without water and food, the white dragon horse had died (there was a white horse pagoda where the white dragon horse was buried). The monk of Tang Dynasty trudged hard and was about to fall down. At that time, he was seen by Guanyin Bodhisattva. In order to wish him success, he dropped a drop of gold from the purple gold bottle Water, instantly in the vast desert appeared a crescent like spring, and there is a kind of spring called "seven star grass", which can cure all kinds of diseases, later this spring was named "crescent spring", so the Tang monk was rescued, he continued to move toward the west, crescent spring has been preserved until today.

Main attractions

Dunhuang is a famous city on the ancient "Silk Road". In the long history of cultural exchanges between China and the west, it used to be a place where Chinese and Western cultural celebrities gathered

The ground. Because of the combination of essence and macro, Dunhuang culture has created a world-famous "Dunhuang culture" and left many cultural treasures for mankind.

The crescent spring is surrounded by high sand mountains, with a crescent shaped lake in the middle. Mingsha mountain makes a sound on a sunny day or when someone slides down the mountain, so it is called Mingsha mountain. There is also a strange phenomenon here. Because of the terrain, when the wind blows, the sand does not go down the mountain, but flows from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain. Therefore, the crescent spring will never be buried by the sand, which is called a desert wonder.

Siqi

There are four wonders in crescent spring

The shape of crescent moon is as old as ever, the place of evil environment flows into spring, the sand mountain is not submerged in sand, and the old fish in the ancient pond is not old.

Three treasures

Crescent spring has three treasures: tilapia

Five color sand and seven star grass

. The sand of Mingsha mountain has five colors: red, yellow, green, white and black. It's said that anchovy and seven star grass can live forever! Luobu kenaf is the unique and only health Chinese herbal medicine in Yueya spring. After processed into tea, its pH value is weakly alkaline. It can lower blood pressure, lower blood lipid and increase coronary artery flow. It has good curative effect on hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hypertension, especially on dizziness symptoms and improving sleep quality. At the same time, it can enhance immunity, prevent cold, relieve asthma and cough, and eliminate asthma