A lake of love

Sayram Lake whispers "I love you" in numbers, fizzes with countless ice bubbles and teems with impossible fish where nothing swam for as long as anyone knew — unless you count the lake monster.

Its identity churns like a potion: part love spell, part captured breath, part miracle of life.

The 1,314-square-kilometer scenic area in Xinjiang's Bortala Mongolian autonomous prefecture loosely rhymes with yisheng, yishi (one lifetime). Its 2,073-meter elevation sounds somewhat like ai ni qing shen (love you deeply). And its 520-kilometer distance from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region's capital, Urumqi, sounds a bit like, wo ai ni (I love you).

Sayram Lake transliterates numeric data into romantic verse and translates human affection into marital bliss. Over 10,000 couples have chosen to tie the knot here because of its "love codes".

Couples who say "I do" here enjoy free entry for life. Many buy registration-plus-honeymoon packages that include photo shoots, tours and wedding banquets.

Local lore

Legend has it that love physically formed the lake itself in a meadow freckled with flowers.

A demon kidnapped a young man's lover, and he rushed to rescue her, only to discover she'd leapt into the abyss in despair. So he did too. Suddenly, water gushed from the void, filling Sayram. In another version, it's formed from their tears.

Tradition says that Sayram will judge the vows made near its shores. After weddings, a pair of swans will cross paths with newlyweds whose love is true. If they're disingenuous, the weather will change abruptly — and usually for the worse — during the ceremony.

Other legends claim the lake is a mirror for celestial beings that — like a crystal ball — can reveal a human's destiny, including their soulmate's identity, if they stare at it on the darkest night of winter. It's also said the surface glistens with shifting tints of green and blue because it reflects the facets of a jewel that a Tianshan Mountains fairy lost in its depths while bathing. Other tales claim it's a sacred well or the lair of a dragon whose icy breath chills its waters.

Incidentally, the lake hosts ice dragon boat races in winter.