Determined scientist studies desert for 30 years

En route to Shapotou, there is not much to see except an endless sea of sand. The district, in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, is located where the Yellow River meets the Tengger Desert. For more than five decades researchers have been coming here to fight desertification. Li Xinrong is one of them.

His mantra is: "Sands are as precious as forests", and having been here for three decades, he has clearly developed a close connection to this arid land. "Deserts are landmarks god has given us. They nurture special biotic resources. We must protect them," he said.

Shapotou first hit the headlines in the 1950s with the construction of the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, an artery that traverses the Tengger Desert six times. The project ran into difficulties in Shapotou's ever shifting sand dunes - hardly an ideal foundation for a railway track. That was when the first group of scientists arrived.