The Kumtag Desert in northeastern China is associated with the singing dunes of Echoing Sand Mountain near Dunhuang.
Kumtag means “sand mountain” in Uyghur and related Turkic usage. The desert occupies parts of Xinjiang and Gansu, near the historic Silk Road corridor. Its dunes, gravel plains, and dry basins form a transition zone between larger desert systems of Central Asia.
Echoing Sand Mountain, or Mingsha Shan, is a famous dune area near Dunhuang. Wind moving across loose sand can produce booming or humming sounds, a phenomenon reported in several sandy deserts worldwide. The sound is not caused by supernatural activity; grain movement and dune shape help create the vibration.
The Kumtag is distinct from the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts, although all are part of the broad arid landscapes of northern China and Central Asia.