Located in Gulang County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province, Babusha, located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert, once suffered from wind and sand. Eight steps of sand, eight steps out of the sand is sand, the raging wind and sand erode the surrounding villages and farmland, seriously affecting the production and life of the masses.
In order to protect the homeland, in the early 80s of the 20th century, the first generation of Babusha sand control people Guo Chaoming and other six old men set up the Babu Sand Forest Farm in the form of joint household contracting, after more than 10 years of hard work, the six old men used the method of "a tree, a handful of grass, pressing the sand and preventing the wind", so that more than 40,000 acres of Babusha desert was covered with green.
The trees of Babu Sha are green, and the hair of the six old men is white. The six old men made an agreement of "father dies and son succeeds" and passed on the sand control shovel to future generations.
In the difficult process of fighting against sandstorms, the second-generation sand control people represented by Guo Wangang continuously expanded the sand control area of Gulang County by engineering sand control, and the third generation of sand control people represented by Guo Xi innovated the methods of mechanical sand control and network sand control to improve the efficiency of sand control.
In late spring, Guo Xi, a new generation of sand control, is the busiest time: managing chicken farms, watering saplings, pressing sand, and planting trees...... Every day, Guo Xi's schedule is full. In the early morning, he drove to the Babusha Chicken Farm to feed the "wandering chickens", then went to the reservoir to pull water, went to the forest farm to water, and in the afternoon, he moved to the sand control site on the border between Gulang County and Inner Mongolia...... After working more than 10 hours a day, when I returned home from work, the sun was already sinking.
Unlike his grandfathers and uncles, Guo Xi drove heavy-duty sprinkler trucks, large lawn holders and other machinery, which greatly improved the efficiency of sand control. He also used social media to post short videos, so that people from all over the world could understand the story of "eight steps of sand, six old men, and three generations". Contiguous public welfare forests have been adopted, and social participation in desertification control is higher.
Thinking of his childhood, Guo Xi recalled: always accompanied by yellow sand, eating with sand in his mouth, there is no place where sand does not fall. Over the past 40 years, the three generations of Babusha have completed more than 300,000 mu of sand control and afforestation, managed and protected more than 400,000 mu of sand and cultivated forest grasses, and planted more than 30 million sand plants. Spring flowers are blooming, standing in the former sea of sand, the breeze blows the fresh grass. "I often imagine the future, when the desert is full of colorful flowers, the fragrance of flowers comes to my nose, and the sea of sand will become a sea of flowers. Guo Xi said.
On the evening of April 10, at the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi was about to go home. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi drove a grass loader to transfer straw for sand compaction. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fan Peishen
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi was pressing sand with grass squares. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi was carrying out grass grid sand pressing operations. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang Sand Area of Babusha Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Wangang (right), the second-generation sand control person of Babusha, and Guo Xi discussed the sand control plan together. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua
On April 10, in the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi checked the water coming out of the external water pipe from the cab of the sprinkler truck. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fan Peishen
On April 10, at the sand control point of the eye socket sand control site of the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi repaired the water pipe for watering trees. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fan Peishen
On the evening of April 10, in Tumen Town, Gulang County, Guo Xi (left) and his wife took a walk after dinner. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Wangang (middle) and Guo Xi (right), the second-generation sand control workers of Babusha, inspected the reservoir in the desert. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua