James Whitlow Delano: Taming the Yellow Dragon

The Chinese call it Taming the Yellow Dragon. It is a battle to halt irresistible yellow Gobi Desert sands that are advancing, filtering into and burying villages.

Fifty years ago, this was a grassland. Since Mao's destructive development policies known as the Great Leap Forward (1958-1963), Tengger Desert sand mountains 100m (328 ft.) or higher have swallowed grasslands, lakes and farms. The sand's advance at this point seems unstoppable. Inner Mongolia, China.