Last week, the first spring dust storm of the year hitted Beijing.

Because the vegetation is damaged on account of the mining or construction, causing the desert in the northwest is gradually expanding, leading to serious desertification and frequent sandstorms.

Every spring the dust storm hits Beijing and surrounding areas, it is characteristic weather of Beijing now. Few people think of China as a desert nation, yet it is among the world’s largest. More than 27% of the country comprises useless sand.

A Ministry of Science and Technology task force says desertification costs China about $2-3 billion annually, while 800 km of railway and thousands of kilometers of roads are blocked by sedimentation.

An estimated 110 million people suffer firsthand from the impacts of desertification and, by official reports, another 2,500 sq km turns to desert each year.

The larggest dust storm happened in 2002, when I was a sophomore in university. That day, I was in the class, my classmates gave a great exclamation: “look at the sky”, we found the sky turned black and red, for a time, sands owned the skies.

After that year, the Central Government at all levels are greatly concerned about the urban afforesting and greening. The next 6 years, the desert storm had improved, but it still happened every year.

The external link: Beijing’s Desert Storm By Ron Gluckman - The desert is sweeping into China’s valleys, choking rivers and consuming precious farm land.