Hala Nur

Hala Nur lies at the western end of the Hexi Corridor, where the Shule River reaches the desert beyond Dunhuang. The name means Black Lake in Mongolian. Its waters formed a terminal lake for the river, whose course descends from the Qilian Mountains across the arid corridor. In wetter times water could continue westward towards Halaqi on the edge of the Kumtag Desert, linking the lake with a wider system of desert wetlands.