On the eastern side of the Tengger Desert, the movement of sand hills was always a problem for surrounding villages and infrastructure. In the middle of the twentieth century, the wind blew through northwestern China, moving large amounts of sand and exposing the surrounding agricultural areas to dust storms. It became imperative to stabilise the sand hills once the Baotou-Lanzhou railway was constructed over the southeastern part of the Tengger Desert. Engineers realised that conventional planting techniques would not work on the shifting sand, as young plants would be uprooted by harsh gales or covered up by moving sand hills within a few days.
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