Gobi galavant (corrected)
June 11, 2006 | Category: China
[NOTE: Some extra zeroes on a statistic in the original version of this post. Mistake has been addressed.]
Following are a couple snapshots from a trip to the Alashan (阿拉善) region in western Inner Mongolia, part of the swelling Gobi Desert just across the border from Ningxia, with a group of graduate students from Peking University’s College of Environmental Sciences and the University of Vermont.
The tour was part of a conference on desertification organized by Peking University students in the wake of a week of sandstorms said to have dumped over 300,000 tons of particulate detritus on Beijing this spring.
300,000 tons.
The average weight of the two-humped camel is around 1100 lbs. So it’s as if winds blew through this region, picked up 550,000 camels, and dumped the musty mess of limbs and hair and excessively long tongues on the city’s horrified residents (a metaphor that would surely horrify the very nice Camel Protection Association member who rode the train out with us. Sorry, comrade.).
Alashan is one of the major sources of the storms. Desolate in places, astoundingly beautiful in others. The experience felt more like a vacation than a research trip at times, but it turned up some interesting information.
For example, it is possible to grow a medicinal root in the desert called rou cong rong (肉蓯蓉) that sells for 60 RMB a kilogram as a cure for, among other things, premature ejaculation. According to one local environmentalist, the root could more than replace income from the extensive animal grazing that is helping the sand to spread. All that’s lacking is a little patience (it takes six years to get a first crop) and a little government support. Another world-saving plant for the hippies to champion against the prudishness of government suits.
But on with the pictures.
Shi Xuan, a Peking University student, records images of an area in the process of “recovery” via aerial seeding.
SUV ride through the Tengger Desert on the way to Moon Lake, an oasis eco-resort. The resort’s owner bills it as the model for a melding of commerce and environmentalism that will be the salvation of China’s withering ecosystems. As for the ride out there, imagine Disneyland’s “Star Tours” juiced on methamphetamines. One of the students–a Party member with ambition for high officialdom–vomitted twice.
Students extend research at Moon Lake to include study of alternate transportation technologies (having already done exhaustive personal tests of traditional gasoline-powered dune buggies).
Self-explanatory. Clearly.
Driver searches out alternate routes after having stalled, and nearly toppled, the military transport truck enlisted to carry students back to civilization.
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About the Author
Josh Chin is a freelance journalist based in Beijing. He also once worked as a sous chef in a French restaurant in San Francisco. Neither job has been good for his health.Photos
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Guess your blog is so good that Roy fowarded your website to me. And it is. I will send to others.
hey,
it’s actually only 300,000 tons of sand, not million. I know that whole wan can thing can be be difficult. comrade j
How nice to see it !
Miss to see everybody!
Keep in touch !
luck,,,：）
Nice pics, and well written! I’d hire ya if I was in a position of needing an Asian/environmentally specialized journalist. Take care and enjoy the rest of your time in China.
Thanks for the comments all. Thanks in particular to Joey for pointing out my calculation mistake on the amount of sand dumped on Beijing during that one nasty week of sandstorms. That “whole wan thing” (万=10,000) is indeed tricky sometimes.
hi, so good memories in northwest China.