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33-460: Tazhong is located in centre of the Taklamakan Desert . The petroleum industry makes up most of the economy of Tazhong. There are more than 100 oilfield units and engineering construction units such as PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Branch , Sinopec Northwest Oilfield Branch , Daqing Oilfield Tadong Company , and nearly 100 various commercial outlets in the area of Tazhong. Other than petroleum,

66-483: A result of desertification . "When I woke up one morning, I found I couldn't open the door because of the weight of sand that had accumulated overnight. My crops were buried too, so I had no choice but to move" -Memet Simay, Qira County resident The Golmud-Korla Railway crosses the Taklamakan as well. Named areas in the desert include Ha-la-ma, A-lang-ha and Mai-k'o-tsa-k'o. The Mazartag mountains are located in

99-449: A specific class of mineral found in the dust, known as K-feldspar , triggers ice formation particularly well. K-feldspar is particularly susceptible to corrosion by acidic atmospheric pollution, such as nitrates and phosphates; exposure to these constituents reduces the ability of the dust to trigger water droplet formation. In May 2023, China announced that it would drill a hole to around 11 kilometres (36,000 ft) depth to investigate

132-481: A standard football field and training center was constructed at the No. 1 Primary School in the county. The northern part of Qira County is made up of sand dunes and ends in a straight line drawn in the Taklamakan Desert that forms part of the boundary between Hotan Prefecture and Aksu Prefecture . The area is between 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and 1,800 m (5,900 ft) above sea level. Oasis areas occupy 2.9% of

165-577: Is 7,282 m (23,891 ft) above sea level. The meltwater from this mountain creates the Qira River (Cele River, Ts'e-lo Ho; 策勒河 ) which flows through Qaka into the Qira county seat. In the mid-20th century, camping grounds in the sparsely populated southern mountainous area of the county included Chotma, Yangi kan, Zaiuk, Yaskako Tagh, Mandar Chap, and Chumik. Qira County includes two towns and six townships  : Agricultural products of

198-506: Is bordered to the north by Aksu Prefecture , to the east by Yutian / Keriya County , to the northwest by Lop County , to the southwest by Hotan County including the China-India disputed Aksai Chin area and to the south by Rutog County , Ngari Prefecture in Tibet. The sixth century Dandan Oilik oasis town archaeological site where Buddhist shrines and texts were discovered is located in

231-921: Is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains to the west, the Tian Shan range to the north, and the Gobi Desert to the east. While most researchers agree on makan being the Persian word for "place", etymology of Takla is less clear. The word may be a Uyghur borrowing of the Persian tark , "to leave alone/out/behind, relinquish, abandon" + makan . “Taklā” also means “bald” in Hindi/Urdu , so it translates to “bald land” meaning land with no vegetation. Another plausible explanation suggests it

264-535: Is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road , by which travellers sought to avoid the arid wasteland. It is the world's second-largest shifting sand desert, with about 85% made up of shifting sand dunes, ranking 16th in size in a ranking of the world's largest deserts . Dunes range in height from 60 feet (18 m) up to as much as 300 feet (91 m). The few breaks in this sea of sand are small patches of alluvial clay. Generally,

297-550: Is derived from Turki taqlar makan , describing "the place of ruins". Chinese scholars Wang Guowei and Huang Wenbi linked the name to the Tocharians , a historical people of the Tarim Basin, making the meaning of "Taklamakan" similar to "Tocharistan". According to Uyghur researcher Turdi Mettursun Kara, the name Taklamakan comes from the expression Terk-i Mekan. The name is first mentioned as Terk-i Makan (ترك مكان / trk mkan) in

330-543: The Communist Party secretary for Chaka township's Bekchan village and ethnic Uyghur, was relieved of her duties for taking her nikah marriage vows at her home. According to the Hotan Daily, 97 officials were charged with disciplinary violations at this time. In 2018, local government authorities in the county expected to have almost 12,000 detainees in vocational camps and detention centres and some projects related to

363-488: The Keriya River . There were several wells along the course he took. Qira County was divided from Yutian / Keriya County in 1928/9. In the thirty years between the 1950s and 1980s, a significant area of farmland near the county seat was taken into the desert by blown sand. Since the founding of Xinjiang Autonomous Region in 1955, Qira County has been part of Hotan Prefecture. In the 1980s, 446 households living in

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396-626: The Silk Road would stop for relief at the thriving oasis towns. It was in close proximity to many of the ancient civilizations—to the Northwest is the Amu Darya basin, to the southwest the Afghanistan mountain passes lead to Iran and India, to the east is China, and even to the north ancient towns such as Almaty can be found. The key oasis towns, watered by rainfall from the mountains, were Kashgar , Miran , Niya , Yarkand , and Khotan (Hetian) to

429-459: The White Jade River (Yurung Kash), which provide water for Hotan (Khotan) , are found in the Kunlun Mountains of southern Qira County. Mountain passes in the area include Mandar Kol Dawan, Shalgon Dawan, Kuchkash Bulak Dawan, and Art Dawan. One of the prominent mountains in the county is Muztag (K5, Wu-lu-ko Ho Shan, Mo-shih Shan, Mu-shih Shan, Muztagh Jilga; 慕士山 , 木斯山 ) which

462-457: The Qira research station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was founded to combat drift sand. A transitional zone was established with help from the scientists at the station, and the sands were pushed back over 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). In 2005, a small 1,500 year-old Buddhist temple was discovered 7 km (4.3 mi) from Damiku (Damagou). On October 20, 2014, Damiku (Damagou)

495-522: The Taklamakan was reported to be covered, for the first time in its recorded history, entirely with a thin layer of snow reaching 4 centimetres (1.6 in), with a temperature of −26.1 °C (−15 °F) in some observatories. Its extreme inland position, virtually in the very heartland of Asia and thousands of kilometres from any open body of water, accounts for the somewhat wide diurnal temperature variation . The Taklamakan Desert has very little water making it hazardous to cross. Merchant caravans on

528-591: The Tomb is mostly spent in this desert as they are searching for the ancient city of Jinjue (see Niya (Tarim Basin) ). The issue No. 39 'Soft Places' of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman takes place in the desert, when Marco Polo gets lost in the desert. A portion of the Korean quasi-historical TV drama series Queen Seondeok takes place in the Taklamakan Desert. Sohwa escapes from Silla with baby Deokman and raises her in

561-569: The book called Tevarih-i Muskiyun, which was written in 1867 in the Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang. In folk etymology , it is said to mean "Place of No Return" or "get in and you'll never get out". The Taklamakan Desert has an area of 337,000 km (130,000 sq mi), making it slightly smaller than Germany. The desert is part of the Tarim Basin , which is 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) long and 400 kilometres (250 mi) wide. It

594-613: The centres outstripped budgetary limits. According to the Chinese Government, by the end of 2018, construction of Jinnan New Village ( 津南 新村 ) in Qira Town (Cele) was completed. To increase aid delivery to Xinjiang, places in Xinjiang are paired with other areas of China which can provide aid. Tianjin and Hotan are paired in this program. Through assistance from the Tianjin government,

627-431: The county include wheat, corn, cotton, petroleum products, melons, pomegranates, walnuts, peaches, and apricots. Livestock raised in the county include horses, cows and sheep. Industry in the country includes electronics, construction, cotton ginning and food processing (fruits). As of 2015, 163,705 of the 166,735 residents of the county were Uyghur , 2,921 were Han Chinese and 109 were from other ethnic groups. As of

660-444: The county seat were forced to relocate due to the effects of desertification which had brought the Taklamakan Desert within 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) km of their homes, sometimes burying homes in sand overnight. "When I woke up one morning, I found I couldn't open the door because of the weight of sand that had accumulated overnight. My crops were buried too, so I had no choice but to move" -Memet Simay, area resident In 1983,

693-427: The desert of northern Qira (Chira) County. Qira town (Chira), the town that is the current county seat of Qira County, has been forced to change locations on three occasions due to encroachment by the sands of the Taklamakan Desert. In his 1900-01 expedition in the region, Aurel Stein travelled across the northern section of today's Qira County, a section of the Taklamakan Desert between today's Lop County and

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726-460: The desert. As a teenager, Deokman returns to Silla and uses the knowledge and experience gained from life among international traders in the Taklamakan trading centers to gain the throne of Silla. The desert is showcased in the Japanese animation Mobile Suit Gundam 00 , set in the year 2307. On the series, the Taklamakan Desert is the setting of a large-scale military joint operation performed by all

759-587: The layers of crust in that area. It will not be as deep as the Kola Superdeep Borehole (12,262 metres (40,230 ft). The Taklamakan Desert is surrounded by the Taklimakan Desert railway loop. The Southern Xinjiang Railway branches from the Lanxin Railway near Turpan, follows the north side of the basin to Kashgar, and curves southeast to Khotan, while Hotan–Ruoqiang railway loops around

792-558: The region. Later, the Taklamakan was inhabited by Turkic peoples . Starting with the Han dynasty , the Chinese sporadically extended their control to the oasis cities of the Taklamakan Desert to control the important silk route trade across Central Asia. Periods of Chinese rule were interspersed with rule by Turkic, Mongol and Tibetan peoples. The present population consists largely of Turkic Uyghur people and ethnic Han people . This desert

825-491: The service and tourism industry also support Tazhong. Tarim Desert Highway runs through Tazhong. This Xinjiang location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Taklamakan Desert The Taklamakan Desert ( / ˌ t æ k l ə m ə ˈ k æ n / TAK-lə-mə-KAN ) is a desert in northwest China 's Xinjiang region . Located inside the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang , it

858-564: The south and west side of the Traim. In total, the Taklimakan Desert railway loop contains four different railway lines, including the sections of the Golmud–Korla railway , Hotan–Ruoqiang railway , Kashgar–Hotan railway , and Southern Xinjiang railway . Roads and highways are also available in the desert. The desert is the main setting for Chinese film series Painted Skin and Painted Skin: The Resurrection . The Chinese TV series Candle in

891-684: The south, Kuqa and Turpan in the north, and Loulan and Dunhuang in the east. Now, many, such as Miran and Gaochang , are ruined cities in sparsely inhabited areas in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China . The archaeological treasures found in its sand-buried ruins point to Tocharian , early Hellenistic , Indian , and Buddhist influences. Its treasures and dangers have been vividly described by Aurel Stein , Sven Hedin , Albert von Le Coq , and Paul Pelliot . Mummies , some 4000 years old, have been found in

924-481: The steeper sides of the dunes face away from the prevailing winds. The People's Republic of China has constructed two cross-desert highways. The Tarim Desert Highway links the cities of Hotan (on the southern edge) and Luntai (on the northern edge) and the Bayingol to Ruoqiang road crosses the desert to the east. In recent years, the desert has expanded in some areas, its sands enveloping farms and villages as

957-519: The total area of the county. The oasis areas along China National Highway 315 include the Qira County county seat area, Gulahma and Damiku. Qaka, Ulughsay, Nur, Bostan and Kunyu 's small exclaves in Qira County are located close to the Kunlun Mountains. The southern part of Qira County is mountainous with an average elevation of 3,200 m (10,500 ft) above sea level. The upper reaches of

990-516: The western part of the desert. Because it lies in the rain shadow of the Himalayas, Taklamakan has a cold desert climate . Given its relative proximity with the cold to frigid air masses in Siberia , extreme temperatures are recorded in wintertime, sometimes well below −20 °C (−4 °F), while in summer they can rise up to 40 °C (104 °F). During the 2008 Chinese winter storms episode,

1023-522: The world's blocks of power, and interdicted by the paramilitary organization Celestial Being. Qira County Qira County ( Uyghur : چىرا ناھىيىسى ), alternatively Chira or Cele (from Mandarin Chinese ), is a county in Hotan Prefecture , Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region , China. Almost all the residents of the county are Uyghurs and live around oases situated between the desolate Taklamakan Desert and Kunlun Mountains . The county

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1056-521: Was changed from a township to a town. On January 7, 2016, areas near Nur, Bostan and Ulughsay townships in Qira County were made part of the newly created Kunyu . On February 28, 2017, it was announced by the county government that those who reported others for stitching the ' star and crescent moon ' insignia on their clothing or personal items or having the words ' East Turkestan ' on their mobile phone case, purse or other jewelry, would be eligible for cash payments. In March 2017, Salamet Memetimin,

1089-561: Was explored by several scholars, including Xuanzang , a 7th-century Buddhist monk, and, in the 20th century, the archaeologist Aurel Stein . Atmospheric studies have shown that dust originating from the Taklamakan is blown over the Pacific, where it contributes to cloud formation over the Western United States. Further, the traveling dust redistributes minerals from the Taklamakan to the western U.S. via rainfall. Studies have shown that

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