YINCHUAN, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Xihaigu, arid land in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, was labeled the "most unfit place for human settlement" by visiting experts from the United Nations in the 1970s due to drought and fragile ecological environment.
Xihaigu's Pengyang County was once an impoverished county due to frequent drought and fragile ecology. Most natives used to feed on wheat because the crop is cold and drought tolerant.
Since its establishment in 1983, Pengyang County has always adhered to the principle of "ecological county" and continued to carry out soil erosion control.
In the past 38 years, Pengyang county has carried out measures such as transforming mountains into cultivated forests, returning farmland to forest and grassland, and building horizontal terraced fields, aiming at protecting water and soil resources and improving the ecological environment.
Today, the ecology of Pengyang County has been greatly improved.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
