Free Republic

For some cheese lovers, the older and stinkier the cheese, the better. Well, what about a cheese that's been aging for 3,600 years? Yellow lumps, believed to be the world's oldest cheese, were found on mummies buried in the Taklamakan Desert in northwestern China. The cheese, which was found during archaeological excavations that took place between 2002 and 2004, dates to as early as 1615 BC. The cheese was found on the necks and chests of the mummies. The multiple layers of cowhide the mummies were buried in, and the dry, salty desert helped preserve the cheese....

/begin my translation Snow-covered Taklamakan Desert Snow-covered Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang Autonomous District of China on Jan. 19. National Weather Observatory located in the middle of the desert announced that it had the record snowfall in recent five years which started the day before. [Luntai(Xinjiang Autonomous District, China) = Xinhua/Newsis] /end my translation

China's biggest desert Taklamakan experiences record snow The Taklamakan, China's biggest desert, has experienced its biggest snowfall and lowest temperature after 11 consecutive days of snow, local meteorologists said on Friday. The snow started in the afternoon of Jan. 17 and lasted until Jan. 27, with the depth exceeding four centimeters, according to the Tazhong Observatory based in the middle of the desert. Continuous snow also caused the temperature to drop drastically to minus 32 degrees Celsius, a record low since meteorological observation began in the desert in 1996, said Wu Xinping, an expert with the observatory. The previous record...

Monday February 10, 12:10 AM Large Underground Lake Said Found in China Scientists have discovered a massive underground lake in China's arid northwest, giving hope for the reduction of poverty in one of the country's most remote and sparsely populated regions, state media reported Sunday. The lake beneath the Taklamakan desert has a capacity about the same as the 244-square-mile reservoir being filled behind China's massive Three Gorges Dam, newspapers and the official Xinhua News Agency said. The find resulted from a comprehensive survey of water resources in the Xinjiang region, Xinhua said. That study found about 35 billion cubic...