Flaming Mountains

Their striking gullies and trenches caused by erosion of the red sandstone bedrock give the mountains a flaming appearance at certain times of the day.

[1][2] The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves site lies in a gorge under the cliffs of the Flaming Mountains near the pass by Gaochang.

[3][4] The Flaming Mountains received their name from a fantasy account of a Buddhist monk, accompanied by a Monkey King with magical powers.

The monk runs into a wall of flames on his pilgrimage to India in the popular 16th century novel Journey to the West by Ming dynasty writer, Wu Cheng'en.

[5] The novel is an embellished description of the monk Xuanzang who traveled to India in 627 CE to obtain Buddhist scriptures and went through a pass in the Tien Shan after leaving Gaochang.

[6] According to the classical novel Journey to the West, the Monkey King created a disturbance in the heavens and knocked over a kiln belonging to Laozi, causing embers to fall from the sky to the place where the Flaming Mountains are now.