Loess Plateau benefits from green drive (2)

In 2003, Shuozhou, a coal-rich city in which Dacaoping Village is located, faced environmental degradation head on, as the municipal government started encouraging villagers like Niu to contract land free of charge for five years and plant trees on barren hills.

Niu, 52, signed a contract for 800 hectares, but drought prevailed early on and none of his plants survived.

"Money is not a problem for me," said Niu, who has spent over 2 million yuan (about 317,000 U.S. dollars), which mostly came from his former transportation business, in seven years of planting.

Niu blasted rock from hillsides to raise retaining walls, brought in soil and planted shrubs to bind the soil together.

"I plant the poplar trees that can survive in the arid, loose soil," Niu said. "All I hope is that the devastated look will vanish for my offspring."

Niu's efforts came amid the local government's move to green its once-dusty plateau -- and both his efforts and that of the local government have paid off.

"We want the city to be green, to be a good place to live," said Wang Maoshe, secretary of the Shuozhou committee of the Communist Party of China.