China would not be one of the first countries that comes to mind when you think of deserts, but some 27% of the surface land mass is nothing but useless sand, which is encroaching on the meager 7% of land that feeds China's large population.
It is not a new problem either, being recorded the Chinese philosopher Mencius, as far back as the 4th century B.C. He, and others since, have largely blamed the rapidly growing problem on the massive removal of forests, the desert's natural wind break.
Now, stripped of that protection, the fierce windstorms that arise are lifting and moving that sand continually, going as far as to drift it from the Gobi Desert. As the new millennium dawned, there were dunes located a mere 79km. from the capitol city of Beijing, with estimates that these are drifting closer at a rate of 3 km. a year.
Studies attribute the cause of this "desertification" to wood-cutting for heat, grazing by animals, and excessive cultivation. The governments initial reactions were to force peasants to cut back on their livestock and crop production, and to draft them to help plant trees up and down the length of the country.
While they struggle with poorer crop results and less grass for their livestock, peasants watch the sky turn yellow, so thick is the sand that blows in on the frequent windstorms.
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