Chinese Students Offer Proposal for Fighting DesertificationFive students from Tianjin University have recently won top prize in an international contest with a proposal for fighting desertification and improving the environment.The five students, all architecture majors, suggested that when environmental workers plant trees in deserts, they should live in "caves", a dwelling that is popular in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and use "Karez", a means of irrigation from ancient China using underground water. Their proposal won first prize in this year's OTIS architectural design contest for the world's college students, for "its in-depth research and novel design", according to comments by the evaluation committee. The laureates told Xinhua their proposal was based on real life experience and a survey carried out in Yulin City of Shaanxi Province, where the country's first sand-control base was built. "Ecological problems such as sandstorms are confronting China and many other parts of the world. We hope our proposal will be of some help for environmentalists from an architectural standpoint," said one of the laureates. It is the second time Tianjin University, an elite university in north China, has won first prize for China's team in the OTIS contest. Candidates from some 50 countries participated in the annual competition. |
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