Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Cai Zengle) news: "The experience at the Hami Yardang scenic area far exceeded my expectations," exclaimed Wang Haibin, a tourist from Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on April 5, 2025. The well-maintained roads and breathtaking landscapes of the Hami Yardang scenic area left him in awe, prompting him to declare, "This journey is truly unforgettable."

Photo taken on April 5, 2025 shows tourists explore the Yardang scenic area in the southwestern part of Hami City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on April 5, 2025 shows visitors enjoy themselves at the Hongliutan site within the Yardang scenic area, Hami City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

As the spring breeze swept across the northern edge of the Lop Nur, this Gobi desert, silent for hundreds of millions of years, began to awaken. Hami Pterosaur-Yardang National Geopark, with the largest concentration of pterosaur fossils, is home to the first-ever pterosaur museum (currently under construction). With its triple identity as a "Pterosaur Eden + Yardang landscape + Scientific Research Base," the geopark has become a natural laboratory for exploring the evolution of life on Earth.

The winding road of the Yardang scenic area in Hami snake through the Gobi like a river of stars. The breathtaking Yardang landscapes and complete chains of pterosaur fossils turn the journey into an "unforgettable interstellar adventure" for explorers, scientists, and road-trippers from all over the globe.

Photo taken on April 5, 2025 shows a winding road in the Yardang scenic area in Hami City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on April 5, 2025 shows tourists explore the Yardang scenic area in the southwestern part of Hami City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on April 5, 2025 shows visitors enjoy themselves at the Yilongtengyuan site within the Yardang scenic area, Hami City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Stretching over 400 kilometers like the spine of a colossal whale, the Yardang landform traverses the Gobi. Their elevation plunges from 700 meters above sea level to below it, forming a "geological textbook" of landforms. The wind-sculpted rock clusters morph under sunlight into scenes reminiscent of Dunhuang’s flying apsaras murals, ancient Roman colosseums, and giant whales adrift in a sandy sea—each crevice etched with the dialogue between wind and time.

Professor Wang Xiaolin from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his team uncovered the lost "Pterosaur Eden"—the Hami Pterosaur Fauna—here, including tens of thousands of male and female pterosaurs, abundant pterosaur eggs and embryos. "These discoveries redefine our understanding of pterosaur reproductive behavior and the distribution of giant dinosaurs," explained Wang, who has dedicated two decades to research in the Gobi of Hami.

Photo taken on April 5, 2025 shows tourists check the guide map of the Yardang scenic area in the southwestern part of Hami City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on April 5, 2025 shows the Yardang scenic area in the southwestern part of Hami City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Hami City is pioneering a new model of "scientific tourism" by seamlessly blending culture and travel. Initiatives like the Pterosaur-Yardang National Geopark and Museum are quickly coming to life, and the Dahaidao scenic area now offers smart guided tours and camping facilities. Visitors navigate the labyrinth of Yardang landscapes, where rippling light and shadow dance across their windows like waves on a sandy sea.

"That moment gazing up at the Pterosaur Grand Canyon—I could almost hear the breath of prehistoric life," said Jiang Wenhua, a traveler from Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

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