'Great Green Wall' along the Old Silk Road

Loulan, a legendary city and trading hub on the ancient Silk Road, vanished a millennium ago, swallowed by the shifting sands of the Taklamakan Desert in northwestern China.

- Zhu Shenshen

A redesigned Zoomlion water truck works in a grape orchard in Heshuo of Xinjiang. - Zhu Shenshen

Its fate stands as a stark reminder of humanity's enduring struggle against nature in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, home to China's largest desert.

Today, however, the tide is turning. Modern technology has entered the battlefield, empowering locals to combat desertification and plant cash crops. Solar power panels, drones and unmanned irrigation systems using artificial intelligence are crucial in building a formidable 3,000-kilometer greenbelt encircling the desert.

This effort aligns with national strategies to address climate change and build a "Great Green Wall," with shelter belts of vegetation to beat back encroaching desert. The aim is sustainable development.

"I have spent my entire life working on desertification control," said Ai Li, a 53year-old employee with the Yuli County forestry bureau, as he stands at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang. "The zone appears to be just 10 centimeters on a map, but it is actually 20 kilometers in reality and 30 years of my youth."

Relics of Loulan, a legendary city on the ancient Silk Road, lie in the desert now. - Wang Yongqiang

Some 56 percent of land in the county is desert. Simple maps track changes in the desert's edges on a wall with large "Battle Against Desertification" slogans and checkerboard-sized "straw lines" mark ongoing victories.

For 33 years, Ai Li has endured the hour-long drives from downtown Yuli to the desert control zone, where his team patrols, plants vegetation and maintains the straw lines.