'Desert ginseng' breakthrough wins national science award

Dedicating three decades to unlocking the secrets of Roucongrong, dubbed "desert ginseng" for its anti-aging properties, Tu Pengfei, a professor at Peking University, has led his team in developing the whole-industry chain for this once unfarmable parasitic herb.

Now, 7,673 square kilometers of desert in China have been planted with Roucongrong, lifting hundreds of thousands of herders out of poverty and contributing a Chinese solution to global desertification control. The breakthrough received the second prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award in Beijing in early July.

Guo Yuhe contributed to this story.