For generations, local farmers living near the Babusha Desert have committed to anti-desertification efforts, preventing further spread of sand dunes. This all started when a group of men, known as the Six Old Men dedicated their lives to the cause. Alongside their children and grandchildren, these trailblazers have turned more than 25-thousand hectares of desert, into a green landscape. CGTN's Omar Khan traveled to Gansu Province, to both hear their stories, and experienced the work they do to this very day.
From the depths of Erhai Lake to China's arid northwest in Gansu Province, I've come here to meet with a multi-generational group of people, families of farmers, that have committed their entire lives to combating desertification across the Babusha Desert.
Forty years ago, this entire area was barren, with expanding sand dunes as a result of drought and overcropping.
ZHANG RUNYUAN Babusha Desert Farmer "At the initial stage of sand control and afforestation, we had no shelter. One time we were hit by a sandstorm, and one of our fellow villagers Mr. He got buried. When we found him, he said he really wanted to give up as he nearly died at the age of fifty."
As the last of the first generation of farmers to be known as the Six Old Men, Zhang Runyuan, together with five other villagers, began planting trees together dating back to the 80s.
By the turn of the century, their shovels and hands would plant more than 10 million trees across 50 square kilometers of desert.
In 2019, the locals of Babusha were recognized for their anti-desertification efforts during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
GUO WANGANG Babusha Desert Farmer "The General Secretary also picked up our hook plough and joined us in the sand control work. I was very moved.
XI JINPING Chinese President "I hope you can persist in your efforts to reach greater achievements, improving the environment of Babusha and the other areas you're currently taking care of."
GUO WANGANG Babusha Desert Farmer "I think we did what we simply had to do. He was busy with his work and so many national affairs, so I didn't expect he'd come here, to the desert."
OMAR KHAN CGTN Reporter "It was right here, where Chinese President Xi Jinping, ploughed through some of the soil, taking part in the desertification control measures here in Gansu Province. And what the six old men have accomplished, and continue to do over the past several generations, resonates with what the Chinese President referred to as the Yugong Spirit."
The locals later told me that the spirit of Yugong, taken from Chinese folklore, refers to the tireless efforts of generations who aim to change the seemingly impossible and treacherous natural environment.
As the Six Old Men aged, they made a pact – a commitment that all of their families would carry on the arduous task of pushing back the desert. But Guo Wangang, a second generation farmer, was reluctant in the beginning when his father passed the responsibility to him to maintain the greenery they had started.
GUO WANGANG Babusha Desert Farmer "I didn't know what they could do with the barren land, and I never imagined that a handful of old men could stop desertification, because I personally felt that there's no way human beings can control natural disasters, not even the wind or rain."
Then calamity struck in 1993 – a sandstorm that left 23 people dead, including 18 children. This changed Guo forever realizing the significance of what his predecessors had set out to do.
GUO WANGANG Babusha Desert Farmer "We couldn't even save our children, we couldn't save our land, how can we live here without desert control?"
As he looks on at the saplings that have been planted, his determination to curb the desert's expansion has only been amplified over the past few decades.
"From a barren land to an oasis, it takes three years."
OMAR KHAN CGTN Reporter "So, I've been speaking with Mr. Guo for the past hour or so, we've been sort of setting up these grass grids to protect the sand from flying around, and from his experience, he's been doing this for four generations, four decades, every day 6-thirty AM in the morning to 6-thirty at night, maybe even longer, not much in sight here in this desert. So, they've been doing this for so long, three generations of different families, different farmers out here, all doing this, to hopefully have some vegetation in the future, protect the spread of sand, and hopefully bring some more greenery and color to Babusha. I've got to keep going."
Over a span of 38 years, three generations of the six old men have pushed back more than 2000 hectares of sand and planted 30 million trees across the desert. Nearly 7000 hectares of farmland has been protected, with a green corridor now established to prevent further spread of sand.
The country's top leadership recognized them as role models of environmental protection. And has called for unremitting efforts to consolidate China's green ecological barriers. The dividends will perhaps bear fruit in years to come.