Famous for its world-acclaimed art treasury -- the Mogao Grottoes, the weathered frontier fortress, Yumen Pass, and the marvelous desert spectacle, Whistling Sand Mountain and Cresent Moon Spring -- Dunhuang is also endowed with the miraculous and magnificent Yadan landscapes.

Dunhuang Ghost City, also known as Yadan physiognomy, is located in Northwest Dunhuang of Gansu Province, bordering Lop Nur Lake in the west. It is the largest Yadan landform discovered to date, covering an area of about 400 square km. Lying at the juncture of Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region , it is about 170 km away from downtown Dunhuang.

"Yadan," which refers to a precipitous hillock in the Uygur language, is a kind of wind-eroded landform. Yadan landforms rise above the flat Gobi Desert, covering a vast area. Due to its eccentric landforms, the hard-to-spot roads, low-lying terrain, strong magnetism and howling sounds made by the wind, the area is also called "Ghost City" by local people.

Yadan landforms, or Dunhuang Ghost City, is 85 km from the West Yumen Pass, extending 25 km from east to west and 1-2 km from north to south. Yadan extends far beyond what is written in textbooks and is a rarity around the world in terms of the scale and configuration.

In geological terms, a "ghost city" is referred to as wind-eroded landforms or Yadan landforms. Triassic, Jurassic and cretaceous sedimentary rocks are washed by rainwater and eroded by wind, and, as time goes by, such dazzling landforms are created. The formation process of the Yadan landforms took 300,000-700,000 years and ranks first in the world in terms of history and content.

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