China farmers push back the desert – one tree at a time
After a strenuous morning of planting new saplings in the dunes near the Gobi Desert, 78-year-old farmer Wang Tianchang goes to his shed and takes out a three-stringed lute. Sitting in the scorching midday sun, he begins to play and sing, “If you want to battle the desert, don't be afraid.” Wang is a veteran of China's long-term effort to "conquer the wilderness" and the instrument he is playing is called the sanxian. (Click https://reut.rs/3fZFOvm to view a photo series of China's tree-planting program.)0
