Elion turns the Kubuqi Desert into an oasis (1)

41-year-old Zhang Xifei from the New District of Duguitala Town stands on the sand, holding a shovel and looking into the distance. With the other members of his tree-planting team he has been planting euphrates poplar, Sabina vulgalis and other plants that resist drought, cold and infertility. “It is Elion that has been supporting us,” he says. Other team members are also grateful. Zhang Xifei’s family have transferred ownership of their land, so apart from the annual allowance for land transfer, his income comes mostly from tree planting and maintenance, a task to which he has devoted himself for the past decade. [Photo by Yang Jia]