Tree planting drive reshapes economy

Effort spanning decades turned bare land into tourist attraction

Wang Degong, a 73-year-old resident of Youyu county, Shanxi province - on the edge of the vast Ordos Desert - has seen the area transformed from barren land to a tourist attraction over the past six decades.

"There was only one wind a year, but it lasted from spring until winter," he said, recalling the powerful gusts and swirling sands of his childhood.