Deep in Northwest China's Xinjiang region lies the Taklamakan—the world's second-largest shifting sand desert. For millennia, its relentless expansion earned it a chilling nickname: the "Sea of Death." Now, the Taklamakan is shifting in a new direction. After nearly 50 years of painstaking efforts, November 2024 marked a historic milestone: the completion of a massive green belt encircling the entire desert.  Now, the mission is shifting from reclamation to sustainability, as local pioneers find new and innovative ways to transform the desert's barren dunes into "gold" through green industry.