Taklimakan is a desert located in Central China. Asia in the area of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Known as one of the largest deserts in the world, Taklimakan covers an area of up to hundreds of km2 of the Tarim basin with sand dunes up to 300m high.
At the northern and southern edges of this desert are two branches of the ancient “Silk Road” once discovered by traders along the Taklamakan belt and oases to avoid arid lands.
Why is it said that Taklimakan is “a place that is easy to leave and difficult to return to”? In fact, this comes from its name. In the Uighur language, this place is roughly understood as “you can go in there but you can never go out”. This is also the largest desert in China today.
In the past, camels is a means of transporting goods across this desert. That is also part of the “Silk Road” route – which connected trade between Europe and Asia more than 2,000 years ago. Therefore, since ancient times, the Taklamakan desert has played an extremely important role in Asia-Europe trade.
For a long time, archaeological relics have remained still exists in Taklamakan. But everything was covered by sand. Many ancient temples and houses lie in the middle of a vast sea of sand…
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