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In August 2019, President Xi Jinping visited the Babusha Forest Farm in Northwest China's Gansu Province.

Located on the southern edge of the vast Tengger Desert, the farm and its surrounding area were once plagued by severe sandstorms. In Chinese, "Babusha" means "sand in eight steps."

In 1981, six local farmers established the forest farm after signing a land contract with the local government. They vowed to green the sandy land, even if it took generations. After decades of perseverance, the once dry and barren landscape is now covered in vegetation.

President Xi Jinping inspects the Babusha Forest Farm, an afforestation program in a desert area of Gansu, where he learns about the latest development in desertification control and environmental protection, in Gulang county of Wuwei, Northwest China's Gansu Province on August 21, 2019. (Photo: Xinhua)

Witnessing this remarkable transformation, Xi praised the workers as "modern-day Yu Gong" for their relentless efforts to control sand and turn desert into oasis. Yu Gong, a figure from an ancient Chinese folktale, famously set out to move mountains blocking his path and ultimately succeeded through sheer determination.

(Produced by Huang Jingjing, Li Zhuoman, Wang Yuting, Di Jingyuan and Wang Jintao)