No Man’s Lands in China’s West

Lop Nur, like a giant ear looking from the air, used to be a salt lake in the middle of the desert but dried up in the early 1960s.

COMMENTS FROM TWITTER

Davidson
Why? What happened?

All Things Chinese
So far there is no definitive conclusion. But it’s most likely to be caused by wars & climate change.

According to Daoist theory, nurturing qi circulates the Earth planet roughly 2,500 years from north to south before returning to and restarting from the north for a new circle.

Lop Nur was part of the Silk Road with a salt waterway, well-known for its harsh natural condition. 1,000 yrs ago Monk Xuanzang travelled alone on his way to the west and later noted in his book Great Tang’s West Region (大唐西域记) that no one could survive when encountered hot winds from the river ” (沙河中多有恶鬼热风遇者则死无一全者).

During the Tang Dynasty, there are a number of kingdoms around Lop Nur region including Loulan. Now they’ve all gone with the hot winds.

A naturally formed ghost town in the middle of the desert

A bleak landscape along the ancient Silk Road in China’s northwest, Gansu Province.

Mu Us desert, lying on the Yellow Plateau between northern Shaanxi Province and Inner Mongolia Province, with an area of approximately 90,650 km, is frequented by dreadful sandstorms. It’s a region without plants and without crops.

COMMENTS FROM MINDS

Eric
Nope! Still my home planet; Zenatranqil a peaceful place free from political correctness and self-identification, a land where something is what it is, and is perfect in its imperfection.

All Things Chinese
I think what we really love is not of being “perfect in its imperfection” (I love your expression) but brutal honesty.

The trademark of political correctness is being dishonest to social reality. It’s a dangerous new age cult movement, designed to dictate how people should think, speak and act just like what church did in the dark ages.

Many journalists with low IQ but high self-esteem (as cult followers normally have exhibited) are the missionaries spreading the nuisance around the globe. They are the agents of the brain virus.

Forest the Deserts

Near half a century ago in 1974 during the “Cultural Revolution”, 54 new school graduate girls aged in their late teens and early 20s arrived in the Mu Us Desert and began to plant trees.

In the 1980s, a young woman named Yin Yuzhen (殷玉珍) who married into a family living in the desert also began her bold challenge against the inhospitable desert environment. She and her husband sold the sheep to buy 600 sapling trees and planted them around their home.

The villagers nearby joined Yin Yuzhen to challenge the desert. Together they built 3 gravel roads, each 40 km long, constructed over 3,000 hectares of sand barrier, drilled 12 wells and turned 30 hectares of desert land into farmland.

Another woman warrior who boldly challenges the nature is Niu Yuqin (牛玉琴). So far she has planted 28 million trees in Mu Us Desert single-handedly.

Part of Mu Us Desert – 50 yeas ago and today.

This project was carried out since the late 59s and early 60s last century with 240,000 people participating in the work.

A revived Lop Nur salt lake region today. The salt deposits there could be mined for at least 30 years.

Roads in Desert

In recent decades, a large number of motor roads have been built across the deserts.

China’s state-run public transport system has also been extended to the desert region along the ancient Silk Road.

Water Reservoirs in the Deserts

During recent decades, man-made water reservoirs have been constructed in the Lop Nur area which brings back rain to the region.

A huge lake was created on the former salty lake site.

The reservoirs brought life and the entire ecosystem back to no man’s land.

A fishing farm in the Lop Nur reservoir.

Farmlands in the Desert

Following the forest, roads and reservoirs, farmlands appeared in the former desert regions. 

A farmer harvests the crops located near the Mount Red Cliff Reservoir in Lop Nur.

An aerial view of rural Gansu Province along the ancient Silk Road.

COMMENTS FROM MINDS

soxfan1957
Oops! They just ruined it with all though cars and trucks dumping carbon monoxide in the air.

All Things Chinese
Hahaaaa … Remember that nature is not our creator but a product so we are the master? 🤗

soxfan1957
We believe we are the masters. We are actually an enemy of nature. The planet will be here long after man is gone.

All Things Chinese
We are the enemy of nature only when we are the enemy of ourselves because nature is the mirror of our mind.