Wikipedia:Liusha River (fictional river)

The Liusha River (流沙河), alternatively translated as River of Flowing Sands, Flowing-Sand River, is a fictional river from the Chinese novel entitled Journey to the West. The river is found in the twenty-second episode of Journey to the West. The prototype of Liusha River in the novel is the present Kaidu River in Xinjiang.

The river was the last recognizable landmark in China for Sun Wukong and the other pilgrims journeying to India in Wu Chengen's Journey to the West. The twenty-second episode of the novel describes,


 * Liusha River is 800 li wide, (八百流沙界)
 * and its water is swift and extremely dangerous. (三千弱水深)
 * On the Liusha River, the goose feathers will not float, (鹅毛飘不起)
 * and the reed flowers will sink to the bottom of the river. (芦花定底沉)

Flowing-Sand River is ten thousand li long and eight hundred li wide. The master of the river is Sha Wujing, who used to be the Curtain-Rolling General (卷帘大将) of the Jade Emperor in the Heavenly Palace (天宫), but was later expelled to the secular world because of breaking the Glass Cup (玻璃盏) by mistake at the Flat Peach Meeting (蟠桃会), thus violating the Laws of Heaven (天条), and became a water monster in the Liusha River. Later, Guanyin enlightened him. Then he waited in the Liusha River for the sutra-seekers (取经人) to come to accept him as a disciple. Later, he converted to Buddhism and became the third apprentice of Tang Seng.