Farmer repels sand with screen of trees

While deserts are commonly perceived as desolate and barren, a group of farmers in Dingbian county, Shaanxi province, persevered to build a green screen in the desert and push back the encroaching sand.

In 1984, Shi Guangyin, now 70 and head of a farmers group, began a career protecting farmland from encroaching sand.

"I decided to make an all-out effort to control the sand because of my painful experience in my teenage years when my family had to move nine times because of the encroaching desert and sandstorms," Shi said.