My land is called Flame Mountain, where there is no spring or autumn, and it is hot in all seasons. That mountain is sixty miles away, which is the only way to the west, but there are eight hundred miles of flames, and there is no grass growing around it. If you cross a mountain, even your copper brain and iron body will turn into juice. ——Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West"
On the way to learn the scriptures, Tang Seng and his party passed the Flame Mountain, and saw the sun was scorching and the flames were raging. The monkey, which could not even burn a single hair with the three-flavored real fire, scratched its ears and scratched its cheeks and screamed. In desperation, Sun Dasheng relied on Mrs. Niu, borrowed the banana fan three times, and finally extinguished the fire. Wu Chengen, who had never been to Xinjiang, unintentionally helped Huoyanshan.
Huoyan Mountain is located 10 kilometers northeast of Turpan City, Xinjiang. The seasons are red, the temperature is extremely high, and it starts at 40°C in midsummer. Under the scorching sun, the surface temperature of the mountain is soaring towards 80 ℃. The hot air flow billowed up, and the ocher-red rocks shot up into the sky like fire. Even if Sun Wukong came here, he could only jump up and down, screaming, "I, my grandson, can't put out this fire."
Huoyan Mountain is the hottest place in the country. Although there is no grass on the surface, many valleys in the mountainside are shaded by greenery and gurgling ice springs. The famous 5A-level scenic spot Grape Valley is located here.
Anyway, if you don't die from the heat, you might as well get hot to death. If you want to have a taste of the Flaming Mountains, it is best to choose July, the hottest month of the year. However, with our naked eyes, will we just "gone and never return the strong man"? Hey, let's start in the morning, try to get in and out straight.
On July 26, 2017, we set off from Urda Manor. After driving for about half an hour, a red mountain lay on the side. The surface of the mountain was covered with stripes and gullies, which was quite different from what we usually see. The driver said that this is part of the Flame Mountain. After a while, the destination arrived.
As soon as we got out of the car, we became ants thrown into the hot pot. In an instant, clouds of hot air rushed towards our faces, embracing us affectionately, which was irresistible. The strong light pierced my eyes. Everyone quickly hid in the cultural exhibition hall and took a breather before talking.
Most of the cultural propaganda of Huoyanshan revolves around "Journey to the West". It is a clever and cunning plan to connect it closely with Tang Monk, Princess Iron Fan, and Bull Demon King to add a magical color and turn the strange mountain on the ground into a sacred mountain in the world.
It’s so hard to get here once it’s so hot, you can’t keep hiding in the room and turn on the air conditioner, right? We plucked up our courage and climbed up the spiral steps of the cultural exhibition hall, performing a performance of "moths to the fire".
As soon as I stepped out of the gate, I saw a big "golden hoop", which turned out to be a giant thermometer. Although it was only after 8:00 in the morning, the scale displayed on it was already close to 60.
When I came to the foot of the Flame Mountain, I looked up and saw the fire dragon lying on the ground, and the red sandstone was glowing like thousands of tongues of fire, swaying and steaming towards the sky, and there was no grass and birds around. Visitors are prohibited from climbing the Flame Mountain. It is said that there were a few warriors who firmly believed that "there is nothing difficult in the world, as long as you are willing to climb", the result was that the ideal was full, but the reality was too cruel.
"Heavy mountains and bald mountains, surrounded by flames and clouds, steaming hot", these words can't be more appropriate to summarize the Huoyan Mountain at that time. The mountain in front of me is hot, the red soil under my feet is hot, and the surrounding air is steamy. Several of our colleagues glanced at each other in a hurry, and then hurriedly fled back to the cool room. At this time, they should be extremely grateful to the American Kalil, if he hadn't invented the air conditioner, they would have been crazy every second. Our family of three "knowing that there is fire in the mountains, we tend to travel to volcanoes", sweating and joyful under the sun-burning barbecue.
Unexpectedly, there are still people riding camels and lambs on such a scalding land, and I can't help sweating for these poor animals. Even more tragic than camels and lambs was the bronze statue of Princess Iron Fan, where the places that shouldn't be touched were all shiny with oil.
It is reported that Huoyanshan really had an open flame. Cen Can, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, left behind a poem that says "The volcano is abrupt at the mouth of the red pavilion, and the volcano is thick with fire clouds in May. The fire clouds are all over the mountain and have not yet opened, and birds dare not come from thousands of miles away." According to the "Gaochang Travel Notes" written by Wang Yande of the Northern Song Dynasty, "Smoke often rises in the mountains, but there is no cloud and fog. At sunset, the flames are like torches, and the birds and mice are all red." Let's unravel the mystery of the Flame Mountain and find the correct answer.
Due to poor air circulation, drought and little rain, the temperature in summer is extremely high, resulting in spontaneous combustion of coal seams in the mountains. Once this coal fire is self-generated, how can it be extinguished by itself. It burned and burned until the beginning of the new century, when the fire-fighting team of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region used modern "banana fans" to finally extinguish the mountain fire. From then on, only the shape of the fire remained in the Huoyan Mountain, but there was no fire force.
