The scale of the effort made is amazing

Chao Dairong, deputy director of the Yecheng county agriculture and rural affairs bureau, Kashgar, Xinjiang.

I came to Yecheng in 1997 after graduating from a junior college in my home province of Shandong. I only intended to try my luck in the "mysterious far west" for a while. I never imagined I would be here for so long.

I had to get used to the climate. The sandstorms were wild, and after work I usually went home covered in thick dust. The leaves on the trees were never green, just grey. Also, my nose bled a lot in those days.