1. "Homeland"
Guo Xi's childhood memories are all accompanied by yellow sand, "There is sand in the mouth when eating, and there is no place where sand does not fall".
"One night the north wind and sand ride the wall, and get up in the morning and the donkey goes to the house." Talking about the folk proverb he has been familiar with since childhood, Guo Xi said that the desert once engulfed the village like a cancer, and some people chose to stick to it, and more chose to leave.
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi (middle) and his companions planted flower sticks in the desert.
Guo Xi's hometown is located in the northeast of Gulang County, Gansu Province. Once, the continuous sand dunes made it difficult for people to trek, and the eight steps out of the door were sand, so it was named "eight steps of sand". According to public information, Gulang County, located in the eastern section of the Hexi Corridor and the southern edge of the Tengger Desert, is one of the key desertification detection counties in the country.
More than 30 years ago, the yellow sand here was full of yellow sand, the vegetation was scarce, and the 132-kilometer wind-blown sand line moved southward at a speed of 7.5 meters every year, eroding more than 10 villages and 20,000 acres of cultivated land around Babusha.
On April 10, the masses pressed sand with grass squares in the sand area of Mahuangtang in Babu Sand Forest Farm, Gulang County (drone photo).
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Wangang (first from left) and Guo Xi (second from right) were planting flower sticks in the desert when a lizard, known as a "sand doll" by the locals, was beside them.
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.
2. "Shovel Picking"
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi was pressing sand with grass squares.
In the face of adversity, there is always someone who stands up.
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 and digging" to make more than 40,000 acres of desert in Babusha clothed in 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.
On April 10, Guo Xi drove a sprinkler truck to the sand control point in the eye socket of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County.
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi walked to the sand pressing point with sand pressing tools.
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.
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Wangang (middle) and Guo Xi (front), the second-generation sand control people of Babusha, pressed sand with grass squares.
On April 10, in the Mahuangtang sand area of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi planted flower sticks in the desert.
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.
Do not bow your head in the face of difficulties, and dare to turn the desert into an oasis. 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.
On April 11, Guo Xi (right) and the staff of the forest farm had dinner during their lunch break at the sand control point of the eye socket sand control point of the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County.
On April 11, Guo Xi (left) and his companions watered saplings at the sand control point of the eye socket sand control site of the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County.
On April 10, Guo Xi watered vegetation at the sand control point of the eye socket sand control point of the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County.
3. "Sea of Flowers"
On April 11, a bee was collecting honey at the sand control point of the eye socket of the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County.
In late spring, Guo Xi is the busiest time, and his daily schedule is full.
At 4 o'clock in the morning, before dawn, 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 at the junction of Gulang County and Inner Mongolia...... After working more than 10 hours a day, when I returned home from work, the sun was already sinking.
In the early morning of April 10, at the Babu Shalin Farm Economic Breeding Professional Cooperative in Gulang County, Guo Xi changed his clothes and prepared to feed the chickens.
In the early morning of April 10, Guo Xi set off from his home in Tumen Town, Gulang County, to feed chickens at the Babu Shalin Farm Economic Breeding Professional Cooperative (drone photo).
In the early morning of April 10, Guo Xi fed the "wandering chickens" in the Babu Sand Forest Farm Economic Breeding Professional Cooperative in Gulang County.
On April 10, after finishing feeding the chickens, Guo Xi drove to the Babu Shalin Farm Reservoir.
On April 10, in the reservoir of Babu Shalin Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi added water to the sprinkler truck.
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.
On April 10, Guo Xi (left) and Guo Wangang watered together at the sand control point of the eye socket sand control site of Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County.
On the evening of April 10, at the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi was about to go home.
On the evening of April 10, in Tumen Town, Gulang County, Guo Xi (left) and his wife took a walk after dinner.
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.
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.
On April 10, Guo Xi (right) coordinated the watering of the forest farm workers at the sand control point of the eye socket sand control point of the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County.
On April 10, at the sand control point of the eye socket sand control of the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Guo Xi was leveling the tree pit.
From "sand entering and people retreating" to "people entering and retreating", and then to "benefit" from the desert, Guo Xi held the "baton" handed by his predecessors, adhering to the belief of "turning the desert into an oasis", and continued to create a miracle of sand control in the desert.
This is Guo Xi taken on April 10 at the Babu Sand Forest Farm Understory Economic Breeding Professional Cooperative in Gulang County.
Spring flowers are blooming, standing in the former sea of sand, the breeze blows the fresh grass. Guo Xi said that he often enjoys the future here-
"Colorful flowers bloom everywhere in the desert, and the fragrance of flowers comes to the nose, and the sea of sand will also turn into a sea of flowers. ”
On May 6, 2023, two generations of Babusha sand control people took a group photo after working in a sand control area in Gulang County. From left to right: Luo Xingquan (first from left), Shi Yinshan (second from left), Guo Wangang (middle from the back), He Zhongqiang (second from right), Cheng Shengxue (first from right), Guo Xi (front).
Reporters: Fei Maohua, Fan Peishen, Ma Xiping, Fang Xin, Hao Jianwei