Lop Lake
( 2005-09-13 )

In 126, after his trip to the Western Regions, Zhangqian (a Chinese explorer of the Silk Road in theHan Dynasty(206BC-220)) reported to the emperor that the Kingdom of Loulan had city walls around its capital and was near a salt lake. Before long, the booming Loulan Kingdom disappeared without any notice. WhenMarco Polopassed by in 1224, it had been buried in the sands for over a thousand years.

The vast Lop Lake turned into a totally dry salt marsh in 1972 because the lower reaches of the Tarim River, the only water source at the time for the lake, gradually dried up in the 1960s.

Many explorers from all over the world have investigated the lake and left their brilliant descriptions about it, some even giving their life to the so-named "triangle of the devil," making it even more mysterious.