Sayram Lake

Sayram Lake lies in a high basin of the western Tian Shan, ringed by mountains and grassland. Its clear, cold waters were known in earlier Chinese records as Jinghai, the Clean Sea. The route westward toward the Ili valley passes near its shore. In the thirteenth century the Daoist master Qiu Chuji travelled through this country on his journey to meet Chinggis Khan, and his companions recorded the mountain lake.