Youyu county of Shuozhou city, North China's Shanxi province, located on the edge of Mu Us Desert, was once considered to be "unlivable"; however, thanks to decades of forestation efforts of the local people, the county has become an oasis.

Wang Minghua checks the plants. 

Wang Minghua, a 70-year-old villager from Toushuiquan village, Youyu county, has been dedicated to forestation all her life. Since she was 17 years old, she has been fully aware of the significance of planting trees. "I have known from an early age that if we plant trees, we will have a way to live, and if we do not plant trees, there will be famine," said Wang Minghua.

In the early days of the founding of New China, the land desertification rate in Youyu county was 76 percent; the forestation rate was less than 0.3 percent and the windy days above Grade 8 lasted as long as three months a year.

"When I was nine years old, I went to school with other classmates arm in arm when it was windy in the spring. We were afraid of being blown away and couldn't see clearly during the day, with fear of getting lost," Wang recalled.

In the 1950s, Youyu county organized thousands of local people, including 800 students, to plant trees together. Wang Minghua followed the adults up the mountain with hoes, "at that time, I knew nothing but to help carry water and seedlings."

Wang said that in the first year they planted more than 90,000 saplings, but in the spring of the second year, high winds that lasted for many days uprooted the saplings they had planted several months before.

After eight years of efforts, as the survival rate of the trees increased, the local people in Youyu county were finally able to slow down the speed of desertification.

Wang Zhijian, head of Youyu county, said that the area of forestry land in the county has increased from 8,000 mu (about 533 hectares) to 1.7 million mu. Today, the county is no longer "unlivable" thanks to the efforts of the local people.

Along with the forestation, the grain production of the region has also greatly increased. "The yield of corn used to be 50 jin per mu, but now it is over 1,000 jin." Wang Minghua said. 

Now, Youyu county is more confident about the future forestation plan: planting between the economic forest and ecological forest, so that green produces more economic benefits.

"We will further broaden the path of ecological poverty alleviation in Shanxi and constantly carry forward and enrich the spirit of Youyu county in modern desert prevention and control practice," said Zhang Yunlong, head of the provincial forestry and grassland administration.