Ninety-one years ago, the Red Army marched through the mountains of Xihaigu in northwest China. Today, a green Long March is unfolding here.

Pengyang County in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was once a typical dry and deeply eroded landscape on the Loess Plateau, with forest coverage of less than 3%. Over decades, locals have worked to restore the land through tree planting, soil and water conservation and techniques such as the locally developed "88542" method.

Today, ecological restoration is also creating new livelihoods – from raising chickens and bees and growing medicinal herbs under the trees to eco-tourism, forest wellness and processing forest products. Forest coverage in Pengyang has now risen to 23.97%.

From the Red Army's Long March to today's green Long March, this landscape is leaving a different kind of mark, as once-barren hills become a source of both green growth and local livelihoods.