Liaoning's Zhangwu county turns desert into pine forests

Zhangwu county in Fuxin city, Liaoning province, is known as the "place where scientific desert control began in China".

In the 1950s, Zhangwu established a windbreak and sand control research station. The predecessor in desert control made bold attempts and decided to introduce the tall pine trees to manage the sandy land.

Zhangwu borders the Horqin Sandy Land, which is the largest sandy area in China and one of the closest sources of sand and dust to Beijing.

When the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, there were large areas of shifting sand dunes here, with the desertification area once accounting for 96 percent of the total county area.

Now, Zhangwu is covered with large pine forests, and Fuxin has built a forest belt spread over more than 1,000 kilometers, not only preventing the Horqin Sandy Land from spreading southward but also compressing its southern edge northward by 13 km.