With its vegetation coverage rate increasing from 25 to 75 percent and forest coverage rate from 12 to 20 percent between 1998 and 2007, Ordos in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region has surprised the country and the world not only with its double-digit annual economic growth, but also due to its success in ecological rejuvenation and environmental protection along with development.

Ordos was hit by a severe drought between 1998 and 2000. In those three years, 80 percent of its grasslands became deserts.

Although the barren land yielded little in terms of agricultural produce, farmers and herdsmen tried to continue the lifestyle inherited from their ancestors. Consequently, most remained very poor.