The name alone promises an unparalleled adventure: loosely translated, it means 'place of no return'. As the local story goes, the Taklamakan Desert was created by God for the imprisonment of a local Turcic man's youngest daughter, who lost the key to a great house of treasure, given to the people by God.

Vast numbers of mummies discovered in the Taklamakan Desert region show that Turcic, Chinese, Mongol and Tibetan peoples resided here at different times in the smattering of oasis towns. Despite the Taklamakan Desert's being a place made up almost completely of stormy, shifting sands, it was already inhabited at least 4000 years ago by the Tocharians.

Ancient Buddhist cities and temples containing priceless artefacts skirt the edges, most notably the carved grottoes at Dunhuang, labelled by archaeologists as the greatest single source of Buddhist art in the world.

Written by  larapiegeler.

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