The city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, located at 37 degrees north latitude, sits within an arid and semi-arid transition zone of desertified and semi-desertified grasslands. At the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, 96 percent of Ordos' land area was covered with deserts, sandy lands, arid hard beams, and hilly and gully area. It was a city where drought occured nearly nine years out of ten. Change was inevitable and necessary.
Over the past 75 years since the country's founding, Ordos has been committed to ecological construction, fostering harmony between humans and nature. Today, the city is not only home to deserts, but also scenic rivers, vast grasslands and magnificent canyons. Green development is blooming with unprecedented brilliance across the city.
Behind these achievements are generations of efforts to create this ecological miracle.
Ordos is now home to lucid waters and lush greenery. [Photo provided to investordos.goinnermongolia.com.cn]
In 1978, China's largest ecological project, the "Three-North" Shelterbelt Forest Program, was launched, and the Kubuqi Desert became the main battlefield.
Stretching across Ordos' Hanggin Banner, the Kubuqi Desert covers 53 percent of the banner's total land area. Its hinterland was once barren and uninhabited, with severe wind erosion and sand burial, earning it the reputation of an untamed "Sea of Death".
From 1997 to 1999, to combat the harsh environment of "sands advancing, people retreating" and to break the millennium cycle of poverty caused by sand, 130,000 Hanggin Banner people erected more than 20 million hectares of sand barriers along roadsides after seven major battles, paving a sand-crossing highway running through the north and south of the desert.
Having fought against sand for years, the people of Hanggin Banner know that sand control goes far beyond simply planting trees and sand fixation. It is a complex project that requires technology, innovation and perseverance.
In the past 75 years, they have explored a new path of ecological construction and desertification prevention tailored to Hanggin Banner. The banner has developed an anti-desertification model of "engineering sand fixation + afforestation and grass planting + flying sowing grass + fence enclosure + follow-up consolidation and improvement + achievement protection", and created a number of advanced methods in sand control, such as water-impact planting and spiral-drill planting.
As of the beginning of 2024, Hanggin Banner had completed a total of 13.86 million mu (924,306.67 hectares) of key ecological projects for forests and grasslands and restored 4.84 million mu of the Kubuqi Desert, achieving a historic shift from "sands advancing, people retreating" to "greenery advancing, sands retreating".
An aerial view of photovoltaic panels in the Kubuqi Desert. [Photo provided to investordos.goinnermongolia.com.cn]
In order to allow farmers and herdsmen to benefit from ecological construction and boost incomes, Hanggin Banner has been actively promoting the construction of a comprehensive photovoltaic desertification control project that integrates clean energy, efficient digital agriculture, ecological restoration, and eco-livestock farming.
At the same time, capitalizing on its three primary natural resources – desert, grassland and the Yellow River – the banner has built three national 4A-level tourist attractions, one national 3A-level attraction and two national 2A-level attractions.
Since 2012, nearly 30,000 people in the banner have been lifted out of poverty, with the per capita annual income of farmers and herdsmen doubling repeatedly. In July 2018, the banner shed its designation as an impoverished county. The restoration of the Kubuqi Desert exemplifies the development concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets".
Over the past 75 years, the once barren land has been slowly transformed into an oasis, with generation after generation of Ordos people unremittingly carrying out ecological construction efforts based on sand control and afforestation. It is their extraordinary perseverance and the sweat of their brows that has created a green sea on sand dunes and turned the desert into something they can benefit from.
The picture of "greenery advancing, sands retreating" vividly showcases the game between man and nature, as well as the spiritual confrontation between life and desolation, hope and despair.
