Talk Xinjiang II: The Covenant with the Desert

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:02]They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but some places >> [music] >> can't be understood through images alone.

[00:00:10]More than 2,000 years ago, the Xinjiang region served as a gateway between Chinese civilization >> [music] >> and the West. It stood as a vital crossroads where Eastern and Western cultures met [music] and flourished.

[00:00:25]I'm Sergey Gordeyev. Come with me on an eye-opening journey through Xinjiang [music] and discover the people, places, and stories you won't soon forget.

[00:00:35]This is Xinjiang.

[00:00:52]How [music] big is your home? 100, maybe 200 square meters?

[00:00:56]Well, how about 337,000 square [music] kilometers?

[00:01:01]That's the size of the Taklimakan Desert, which used to be the home of the nomadic tribes that ultimately settled in modern-day Xinjiang.

[00:01:13]Taklamakan, the largest desert in China and the second largest shifting sands desert in the world, has been home to the people of the Hotan County for thousands of years.

[00:01:26]We're so used to our modern-day comforts that it's hard to imagine actually living here. I mean, I don't know if I could last in the [music] desert even for a day, but I decided I'd try anyway, and my good friends [music] Kurban and Alimcan from a nearby village have kindly offered to join me >> [music] >> for the challenge.

[00:01:47]All right.

[00:01:50]Hi, Kurban.

[00:01:52]Alimcan.

[00:01:54]So, this is where we're going to see if we can if we can survive a day in the desert.

[00:02:03]So, I guess this is our home for the next day.

[00:02:07]Um does it get cold at night?

[00:02:12]I know mosquitoes are bad.

[00:02:15]mosquitoes All right. Um I think we'll survive. Well, what's uh what's for lunch?

[00:02:23]Usually grab a hamburger.

[00:02:26]Sure, I can do that. But, I guess I I need to uh go get some groceries first.

[00:02:31]After we settle in, the next order of business is dinner and we go for the easiest option, a burger.

[00:02:39]Thankfully, the supermarket in the [music] nearby village is only a 2-hour drive away, which by Xinjiang standards is practically next door.

[00:02:50]So, when I make hamburgers at home, I like to put in ground onions, also forest lettuce, tomato. So, I like to put pickles. I also like to put capers in [music] mine. Uh we'll need some spices, of course, hamburger buns or whatever kind of bread they have. And of course, we'll need some nice fresh ground beef. Let's see what they got.

[00:03:14]I think this [music] looks like spinach.

[00:03:15]For dinner challenge, let's go do.

[00:03:21]So, this looks like a salt and pepper mix. Perfect.

[00:03:28]Ni hao.

[00:03:30]Ni hao. Hello. Um do you have a kilogram of beef? Yeah. More. Do you have a kilogram here?

[00:03:38]Uh that's perfect right there. Yes.

[00:03:41]Um let's see. That's enough for three people. Yes.

[00:03:45]Thank you.

[00:03:46]Bye-bye.

[00:03:50]All right, you guys. I see you guys are all uh set up.

[00:03:55]At home, making a burger is so easy we almost don't think about it. But here in the desert, with only a small burner and sand blowing across our makeshift table, I can't help but wonder how people have lived here before and what's it like to live here [music] now.

[00:04:12]What's it like living next to a desert?

[00:04:26]So, you're both cotton farmers.

[00:04:31]What's it like working on a cotton field?

[00:04:42]>> [music] [music] >> All right.

[00:05:07]Moment of truth.

[00:05:10]You guys, cheers.

[00:05:12]Cheers. Hamburgers.

[00:05:14]Xinjiang desert style. The prospect of an unexpected sandstorm sounded pretty bad, but we soon faced a more immediate problem.

[00:05:24]>> [music] >> Jolly tight on Wednesday. Is it going to be like this at night?

[00:05:35]You have more?

[00:05:40]Well, we tried and we failed.

[00:05:44]In the end, we didn't even make it past dusk.

[00:05:48]But spending time here made me realize that the desert [music] is not just a thing of spellbinding beauty.

[00:05:55]It can also mean danger.

[00:05:57]Not just to a few friends camping, but to entire communities living nearby.

[00:06:03]So this is [music] a relationship that has to be managed carefully and with respect.

[00:06:09]And that's exactly [music] what people like Ms. Jiang do.

[00:06:13]They find a way for humans to coexist peacefully [music] with the desert.

[00:06:18]Ms. Jiang.

[00:06:20]Hi. Hi. So you're in charge of the local desert relations? Yes, let me show you.

[00:06:25]For the past 15 [music] years, Ms. Jiang has overseen a massive project of planting trees to protect [music] nearby villages from desert expansion.

[00:06:36]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> So you don't just take things [music] from the desert, you also give back.

[00:07:32]This sounded good to me, so I wanted to join the effort.

[00:07:37]Can I plant one? Okay. I would love to.

[00:07:49]>> Is it good? Good. Okay.

[00:07:54]Protect our planting a tree. Defeat the rabbit. [music] Oh, that's right. Protect it from the rabbits. Okay.

[00:08:02]Can I name this tree? Yes. What's the name? Nadia.

[00:08:06]What's Nadia?

[00:08:07]Uh that's actually the name of my mom.

[00:08:12]In the years to come, Nadia's roots will reach deep into the ground to find artesian water below.

[00:08:19]So, she can stand firm to protect the people of nearby villages. Now, that's something my mother would actually do.

[00:08:26]Of course, one tree can't stop the desert, but it's a reminder that we all get to choose what to be part of. And even if our individual efforts may feel small, >> [music] >> together they mean far more than we realize. What we see [music] here in Awat is actually part of something much bigger.

[00:08:45]The Taklamakan Green Belt project is a key section [music] of China's Three North Shelterbelt Forest Program, also known as the Great Green Wall. It is the largest [music] ecological restoration initiative in the history of the country.

[00:09:01]Launched [music] in 1978, the program covers 13 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.

[00:09:09]Tree planting, [music] photovoltaic projects, microbial soil treatments, virtual monitoring systems, and advanced drone technology all designed to form a green barrier protecting people from the expansion of the desert. And the results speak for themselves. So far, the project effectively reclaimed 53% of the land previously covered by sand. In this section alone, 100,000 people planted 10 million [music] trees, a green belt that's 9 km wide and 49 km long.

[00:09:45]Over the past 5 years, an investment of more than 33 million dollars.

[00:09:52]I asked Ms. Yang, "What makes it all worth it?"

[00:10:02]>> [music] >> So, this is not a fight against the desert, but rather joining forces in a quiet determination [music] to find balance, to live in harmony with something much older and much larger than ourselves.

[00:10:21]That harmony between people and nature, the past >> [music] >> and the present, places and the stories they tell, is not only the spirit of a white team, it is the spirit of Xinjiang, the soul of its people.

[00:10:37]This is Xinjiang.