At first, survival rates were low due to strong winds and water and soil loss.

Things began to change about 10 years later, when then Party Chief Ma Luyuan drew lessons from the desertification control experience in Gansu province. In line with Gansu's experience, he instructed residents to first plant grass and then sea buckthorns to halt the loss of water and topsoil, before planting trees.

Although county Party chiefs change every few years, reforestation has been pursued by subsequent generations of leadership. Locals call this their "green relay race", a competition against the constant threat of desertification.

Chang Lu, Party chief of Youyu from 1974 to 1982, played a crucial role in this race. It was under his leadership that the county began to improve the strains of trees planted－the second leap in its reforestation campaign after the decision to plant grass in the late 1950s.

By the time Chang died from overwork at his post at age 59, the county had already become an oasis thanks to more than 30 years of reforestation efforts. Its grain output was also increasing yearly.

In the final moments of his life, Chang told local officials that the "trees are the well the county's life hinges upon, and we must protect them".

Following the call of the local authorities, many farmers began to work toward the benefit of future generations, and the official campaign became a common cause in which everyone participated.

Yu Xiaolan, a woman now in her late 50s, was one of those participants. A self-taught tree-planting expert and farmer, Yu spent nearly 30 years working with local farmers, turning nearly 2,000 hectares of barren mountainside－places where "even hares would not crap" as the locals said－into woods, orchards and farmland. Sheep and goats are also grazed on the land she helped reclaim.

Yu's tree farm has become a park, and she has won a number of honorary titles, including that of National Model Worker, for her contributions to reforestation and poverty alleviation.

"Although it is very hard work, seeing barren mountains and valleys turn green really comforts me," Yu said.

She is the epitome of the difference residents have been able to make to the local environment and their own lives using only spades, pickaxes and buckets.