According to China Youth Daily, a project costing 1.5 million Yuan (US$180,000) to explore the mysterious activity of Xinjiang's "Kanas Lake monster" will proceed this July.

On June 6 and 8, the media reported three shocking sightings of "lake monster" at Kanas Lake and one traveler even snapped shots of the "monster". The talk of Kanas' "lake monster" has stirred strong interest within domestic, even overseas, tourists in this matter. Up to the middle of June, the number of visitors approached 20,000, rising 30 percent over the same period last year.

Among these visitors, most of them were from outside of Xinjiang, even from overseas. Tourists from outside of Xinjiang grew 55 percent year on year while overseas tourists increased 18 percent.

Kanas Lake is located in Xinjiang's Altai Mountain, a beautiful, mysterious body of water high up in the mountain and nestled deep in the forest. It is well known throughout the world not only for its gorgeous scenery, but also for the "lake monster" residing in its water.

In recent years, media both inside and outside China have, in succession, reported on solving the mystery of the "lake monster", pointing out that the "monster" was nothing but a huge red fish; but this view was controverted by other experts. There is still no definitive answer to the real identity of this "lake monster".

(Chinanews.cn July 5, 2005)