Crescent Lake: Green eye of the desert

An aerial view of Crescent Lake in Dunhuang city in Northwest China's Gansu province. [Photo by Zhang Xingjian/Chinaculture.org]

Crescent Lake, or Yueyaquan, is a crescent-shaped lake in an oasis six kilometers south of Dunhuang city in Northwest China's Gansu province. It was named Yueyaquan during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Mildred Cable and Francesca French visited the lake during their travels through the region and recorded their impressions in their book The Gobi Desert: "All around us we saw tier on tier of lofty sand-hills, giving the lie to our quest, yet when, with a final desperate effort, we hoisted ourselves over the last ridge and looked down on what lay beyond, we saw the lake below, and its beauty was entrancing."