A mighty flame : an adventure of Sharon the dragon

Here are some elements to accompany you in reading the album

The city of Xi'an

Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi Province. The city is the 3rd most populous city in Western China and is the 2nd most popular tourist destination in China.

Known as Chʻang-an in much of its history, "Xi'an is one of the Chinese Four Great Ancient Capitals". She is well-known to be the starting point of the Silk Road and home to the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

Mount Huashan

The mountain where Abi lives really exists. It's called Mount Huashan. It's located about 120 kilometres east of the city of Xi'an. (Abi and her friends are very good runners).

Mount Huashan is the "Western Mountain" of the Five Great Mountains of China. The highest peak is at 2,154.9 metres.

The monkeys

To create the story and imagine the monkeys, the author and the illustrator were inspired by existing breeds: a Tibetan macaque, a Golden snub-nosed monkey with its very specific blue nose, a François' langur, a Leaf-eating monkeys and a Black Crested Gibbon...
All of these monkeys exist and live peacefully in various parts of China.