Wang's dogged perseverance over the decades transformed a wasteland into a verdant forest in the middle of the Gobi Desert. Little surprise that the remarkable oasis is called Yanming Park after the 90-year-old who made afforestation his life's quest.

In 1955, Wang left his hometown in Hebei province to work for an oil company in Karamay. By the 1970s, he became the director of Xinjiang Oilfield Company's second production factory, tucked away in a harsh desert pocket.

While he found "the desolation of Gobi Desert quite impressive", Wang, a member of the Communist Party of China, quickly realized that the factory, located on barren land, had no natural barrier against frequent sandstorms.

"Strong gusts of wind would turn sand particles and tiny rocks into nano-missiles that bruised our hands and faces. The gale force of sandstorms could even uproot electricity poles," Wang recalls. "Hundreds of workers quit every year because they couldn't handle the tough conditions. I desperately wanted to do something to improve the situation."

After retiring in 1985, he decided to plant trees around the factory. It was not an easy task, given the dry, alkaline nature of the soil. Wang and his team, mostly family members of oilfield workers, experimented with different tree species to break the jinx.

The green cover around the factory increased slowly and steadily at around 3 percent every year. With time and concerted efforts, grass, flower shrubs and trees began thriving.