In the Taklimakan Desert of Xinjiang, the Uyghur language means a place to go in and out, which is often referred to as the sea of death. It is located in the center of the Tarim Basin in southern Xinjiang. The entire desert is about 1000 kilometers long from east to west. It is about 400 kilometers wide from north to south and has a total area of 337,600 square kilometers. It is the largest desert in China and is second only to the Sahara Desert in Africa. The Taklimakan Desert is the second largest mobile desert in the world and the largest desert in China.