After China's strategic conception of building the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", known as the Belt and Road Initiative, was put forward by President Xi Jinping in 2013, elites from eight democratic parties have been offering advice and suggestions. One of them is Qu Jianjun, a member of Jiusan Society Central Committee, a well-known expert on desertification control.

In March, Qu proposed to build a belt along Silk Road oases to prevent sand from blowing in. "The Silk Road Economic Belt is actually a belt connected by oases," he said. "There used to be a dam to block sand along the belt, but its function has been lost due to improper use. Sand has entered oases and invaded farmland. I think the most important thing right now is to restore the belt."

Qu is glad to hear that the State Forestry Bureau decided to push forward the sediment prevention work in June along the Silk Road. He believes that the decision will also benefit Beijing, which suffers from sand storms every year.

"In the past, the State Forestry Bureau established parks in Inner Mongolia and Hebei to fend off sand. Gansu, Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the west were excluded. But Beijing's sand storms don't just come from surrounding areas. More of them are from northwest China," he said. "The key is to stop the sand from its source."

Qu is applying for a program to build the sediment prevention belt. He said he considers it as one of his two major working plans in the next few years. The other one is a sediment prevention project along the Lanzhou-Xinjiang High Speed Railway.

The railway, opened in 2014, runs from Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu province, to Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. It is 1,776 kilometers long, the longest high speed railway in China. It cuts the traveling time from Lanzhou to Urumqi by nearly half, greatly facilitating freight transportation along the Silk Road Economic Belt.

However, due to the harsh sandy and wind-blown environment, the railway tracks are sometimes buried by sand, leading to train delays or cancellations. Qu's project application has been approved and he has got 3 million yuan from Chinese Academy of Sciences to do it.

"My lifelong ambition is to prevent sand from destroying the environment," he said. His previous endeavors and success has made him the chief scientist on sediment prevention.

Saving the Mogao Grottoes from sand strikes

Located in Dunhuang, a city in northwest China's Gansu Province, the Mogao Grottoes are surrounded by the Gobi Desert. For a long time, as long as there was wind blowing, sand drifted down from the cliff in which the Mogao Grottoes are carved, eroding both indoor and outdoor murals and sculptures.

In 1987, the Mogao Grottoes were added to the World Heritage List. Grotto protection became an urgent problem. In 1989, Qu Jianjun and his teacher were invited to Dunhuang to deal with sand problems. He was considered crazy by local people because he would go out as soon as wind started to blow. Qu knew wind was the key to control sand. He had to observe it.

In 1991, Qu built an A-shaped belt one kilometers east of the Mogao Grottoes to fend off the wind. The volume of sand that reached the grottoes decreased by 60-70 percent. In the following 20 years, Qu expanded the belt into a comprehensive protection system. Now sand volume has been reduced by 90 percent. He saved the Mogao Grottoes.

In 2008, Science magazine interviewed Qu and published his tactics of fending off sand.

Saving Yueyaquan from being buried

Yueyaquan, or crescent lake, is a crescent-shaped lake in an oasis in Dunhuang. In 2007, the lake was about to be buried by sand. At that time, the sand dunes in the north were moving southward, while the sand dunes in the south were moving northward. They have moved eight to ten meters in 15 years.

"A poem in the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) mentioned that the sand on the dunes surrounding Yueyaquan slide down at day time and are blown back at night, so it can survive hundreds of years," Qu said. "The law of nature must have been broken by human factors in these years."

He began field research and found that the wind speed largely decreases when the wind comes to Yueyaquan. The culprit is a block of houses and forests northeast of the lake. The trees are as high as 20 meters.

In 2010, the houses were torn down and the trees were chopped off. Wind began to blow sand dunes away and the Crescent Lake was saved. Even his monitoring wooden poles that were buried by sand resurfaced.

In 2014, the Dunhuang municipal government wanted to build a cultural industry park northeast of the crescent lake and invited Qu to do research on its feasibility. "The government officials assumed that I will give positive feedback, but I disagreed with the project after my research," Qu said. "The park will block the east wind and Yueyaquan will be buried by sand blown by the northwest wind."

Government officials couldn't accept his opinion at first and threatened to drive Qu out of Dunhuang. But he explained to them his scientific deductions in plain language again and again. "We will be criminals in history if we build the cultural industry park," Qu warned. Finally, the officials got the point and the project was abandoned. He won their trust and was praised as a real scientist.

Fending off sand along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway

The Qinghai–Tibet Railway is a high-elevation railway that connects Xining, capital of Northwest China's Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The length of the railway is 1,956 kilometers.

In 2003, the railway, which was under construction, was endangered by sand. Qu said that the wind will probably be a huge safety problem for the railway. Data showed that about 270 kilometers of the railway were prone to wind damage. His opinion was taken seriously by the Ministry of Railways.

Qu and his students put more than 200 observation spots along the railway. They found that sand comes from different sources, so a single measure is not enough to prevent sand. They established a comprehensive system, including building fences, digging tunnels and planting trees. After ten years, the sand along the railway was reduced.

The 56-year-old scientist has worked in Dunhuang for nearly 30 years. Every year, he strides in the desert for at least 300 days. He lives in his dormitory at Dunhuang Gobi Desert Research Station.

In his 10 square meter dorm, there is a single bed, a radio, a suitcase and a respirator. He said he never watches TV because he has no time. The suitcase is for him to set off any time. The respirator is a necessity. Due to a car accident when he was doing field research, his breath often stops while he is asleep. Now he must wear it when he goes to bed.

"Over the years, I have had many chances to change jobs, but I refused, and I don't regret it. I fell in love with the desert at first sight and I want to study it. I feel happy that I can pursue my career here," he said.