Published on: 2026-04-18
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
While deserts around the world are being swallowed up by green lands at a rate of 60,000 square kilometers per year, in the city of Ordos, located on the southern bank of the Huang He River, people are reclaiming the sands back at a rate of 10,000 mu per day.
Here lie two ancient sources of sand: the Kuzuqi Desert and the Maowusu Desert. Today, greenery appears over the sea of sand. In 2025, Ordos completed the fight against desertification over an area of 19.05 million mu. The Kuzuqi Desert is now 50% controlled, and the Maowusu Desert has reached 85% control—more than halfway to the goal.
In Kuzupchi, a huge photoelectric installation rises from the dune: massive, stretching 14 kilometers from east to west and 2 kilometers from north to south. Panels above generate clean energy; below, saxaul and sea buckthorn take root. Moving sands stop before this barrier, where new energy and ecology thrive together.
In the Maousu desert, where shifting dunes are more common, the task becomes more complex. Ordos turned to mechanization to solve the problem. Desert roads and crossings twist like snakes, serving as arteries of life. The mechanized “corps for desert combat” — drones for sowing, robots for planting trees, and sand dune packers — is advancing into barren areas, accelerating the pace of restoration in Maousu.
However, at the core of these efforts is the person. Where people once retreated before the sand, now the sand retreats before the people.
Orgy, an entrepreneur from Ordos who returned to his homeland, says: “I have been planting trees in my hometown for almost ten years and founded a cooperative. I hope that more people will join the voluntary efforts to plant trees.”
In the satellite image from 2000, Ordos appeared as an elongated area of brownish-yellow color, speckled with sparse greenery. 26 years later, the green color dominates the landscape. In this protracted war with the Ordos desert, victory must be achieved — and it is inevitable!
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