简体中文
Shi Guangyin has faced the full force of China's monster deserts.
At just eight-years-old, Shi and his childhood friend were swept up by a tornado and blown kilometers away from their homes.
Miraculously Shi survived, found by his relieved father the next day, partially buried in sand and 15 km from where the tornado threw him into the air.
Shi's pal was not so lucky. He was never seen again.
Since then Shi, now 68, has vowed to battle the brutal weather and ferocious sandstorms that plague his homeland. And he has become a millionaire in the process.
"I decided that I would fight the desert when I grew up", said Shi.
Born and raised in Yulin on the edges of China's eighth largest desert, the Maowusu Desert in northwest China's Shaanxi province, Shi reveals that his family moved nine times to avoid the storms.
Crossed by the Great Wall, the Maowusu's winds can reach speeds of up to 20 meters per second, creating a blanket of sand that swallows everything in its path.
"Every three to four years, our house would be buried in sand, and we had to move", he said.
Since 1978, Chinese authorities have supported afforestation projects in north China in a bid to stem desert encroachment and soil erosion, including those set-up by individuals.
Shi became the first contractor to plant trees in the barren desert tocurb the devastating erosion and stamp out sandstorms. His oasis Shilisha - which means a sand belt over five kilometers long in Chinese - was born.
Shi is now head of a million-dollar company - which includes his sand-control arm - turns out around 1.63 million U.S. dollars per year. He has also raised the annual income of his community.
For Shi his millions has been hard earned. At first, family and friends opposed his bold project to tame the desert by planting trees.
Recalling his then pleas to the community he said: "I said I have to do it...because if I don't, people will no longer be able to live here in the near future."
Eventually Shi persuaded seven local households to join his venture. Despite raising 750 yuan between them, about 122 U.S. dollars, they fell well short of the 16,300 U.S. dollars needed to purchase saplings.
Determined, Shi sold all of his sheep and pigs and obtained two loans from local banks.
One year later, 87 percent of the trees they planted remain standing. Shi has since set up his own sand-control business, gaining support from 100 local households.
In the past 30 years, he has planted trees across 16,700 hectares of desert. Along the way he has faced challenges.
After spending the spring of 1986 planting saplings on one 400-hectare area site known as Langwosha, 11 successive storms buffeted the region, killing 90 percent of the saplings.
The same thing happened the following year.
"Some felt frustrated and wanted to quit, because they thought it was a total waste of money," Shi said. "I told them I must make it work."
In 1988, after their third attempt using sand-proof barriers and planting shrubs alongside to protect the saplings, 80 percent of the saplings survived.
Just two years later sandstorms became a rarity in this region.
Efforts to improve the environment have also benefited the pockets of local residents, with per capita income rising since the project began. Shi has also started other businesses including a pasture and farming operations and a vineyard.
"We hope that the vineyard can reach 330 hectares in the next five years", he said. "We also want to introduce Islamic grapes and make wine in the future."
Despite 30 years since planting his first sapling, Shi is not ready to rest on his laurels just yet.
"I spent most of my life fight against sandstorms, he said. I will never stop for as long as I live."
