Posted on 11/30/2007 11:31:21 AM PST by SunkenCiv
An ancient oasis in destitute Gansu province along the historic Silk Road, Dunhuang is in danger of being swallowed by the sands of the adjacent Kumtag desert, which are creeping closer at a rate of up to 13 feet a year... The problem stems from centuries of unsustainable grazing and farming practices and overuse of already slim and strained water resources. The government has attempted to blunt the spread through reforestation, incentives and other means... Once a welcome oasis for Silk Road travelers thanks to an ancient store of groundwater, Dunhuang is drying up. [page 2] The water table in the city of 100,000 has dropped 39 feet since 1975 and is still falling as city growth strains the water supply, according to official figures... Sandstorms -- higher in number and intensity -- also have accelerated the deterioration of the 1,000-year-old Buddhist frescoes at Dunhuang's Mogao caves, one of China's great historical sites and a growing tourist draw for the traditionally agrarian community. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called recently for renewed efforts to prevent Dunhuang becoming "a second Loulan," referring to another Silk Road stop further west that was swallowed by the desert in the last century.
(Excerpt) Read more at dsc.discovery.com ...
A Fragile Balance -- Workers pick cotton on the edge of the desert that threatens to engulf the ancient Chinese city of Dunhuang in China's northwest Gansu province. Dunhuang is in danger of being swallowed by the sands of the adjacent Kumtag desert, which are creeping closer at a rate of up to 13 feet a year. Kevin Raskoff/Census of Marine Life
Bricks With Molded Designs Unearthed In Chongqing
(Caucasians in Ancient China)
Xinhuanet.com/China View | 1-12-2004
Posted on 01/12/2004 12:28:45 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1056341/posts
Multiplication Table From 1,800 Years Ago Discovered In Hunan
Peoples Daily | 3-9-2004
Posted on 03/09/2004 7:04:42 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1094206/posts
Discoveries Reveal A Flourishing Dunhuang 1,000 Years Ago
Xinhuanet | 3-21-2004 | China View
Posted on 03/21/2004 5:37:15 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1102560/posts
Heavenly Wonder Of Ancient China Goes On Show
(1,300 Year-Old Star-Chart)
Ananova | 5-3-2004
Posted on 05/03/2004 7:02:04 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1128978/posts
Caves Hold Clue To The Riddle Of The Three Hares
The Telegraph (UK) | 7-3-2004
Posted on 07/03/2004 5:43:19 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1164968/posts
China’s miracle in the desert is drying up
NYT | 05/27/05 | Jim Yardley
Posted on 05/28/2005 8:56:03 AM EDT by TigerLikesRooster
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1412212/posts
New Evidence Suggests Longer Paper Making History In China
China.org - Xinhua News Agency | 8-13-2006
Posted on 08/13/2006 6:58:00 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1683060/posts
Chinese Archaeologists Discover 2,000-Year-Old Leather Shoes
The Hindu | 9-9-2006
Posted on 09/09/2006 2:19:11 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1698467/posts
China: Mysterious building discovered in emperor’s tomb
(a buried step-pyramid?)
China Economic Net | 07/01/07
Posted on 07/01/2007 3:31:24 AM EDT by TigerLikesRooster
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1859076/posts
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A Fragile Balance Nov. 20, 2007 -- Towering sand dunes loom over the ancient Chinese city of Dunhuang like giant waves about to break, and they are already lapping at Ma Wangzhen's onion farm.
She points a rough finger at a line of dead trees, half-buried in sand, planted years ago as part of her 20-year losing battle to halt the once-distant dunes which now threaten to spill into her onion crop.
"It moves very fast, much faster than anything I can do to stop it," said Ma, 60.
Ma is on the front lines of a national struggle against a relentless foe: desertification.
An ancient oasis in destitute Gansu province along the historic Silk Road, Dunhuang is in danger of being swallowed by the sands of the adjacent Kumtag desert, which are creeping closer at a rate of up to 13 feet a year.
The city's plight starkly illustrates the threat of desertification and the hard choices it presents to tens of millions of people living across northern and western China.
About one million square miles were classified as desert wasteland in the most recent government survey in 2004, up more than 50 percent in a decade and challenging China's ability to feed its 1.3 billion people.
The problem stems from centuries of unsustainable grazing and farming practices and overuse of already slim and strained water resources.
The government has attempted to blunt the spread through reforestation, incentives and other means, said Greenpeace China climate change campaigner Li Yan.
But the hotter, drier climate due to global warming poses a renewed threat, she adds.
"This is already a serious problem for China, and Greenpeace is extremely worried that climate change will worsen it," she said.
Once a welcome oasis for Silk Road travelers thanks to an ancient store of groundwater, Dunhuang is drying up. The water table in the city of 100,000 has dropped 39 feet since 1975 and is still falling as city growth strains the water supply, according to official figures.
Its rivers and lakes have shrunk 80 percent in 30 years while the Kumtag dunes creep closer as vegetation that restrained the sands for eons dies out.
"It's a very complicated issue that shows we have ignored the environment too much in the past," Mayor Sun Yulong said.
"Now, changes are occurring. This is mother nature's way of punishing us."
Sandstorms -- higher in number and intensity -- also have accelerated the deterioration of the 1,000-year-old Buddhist frescoes at Dunhuang's Mogao caves, one of China's great historical sites and a growing tourist draw for the traditionally agrarian community.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called recently for renewed efforts to prevent Dunhuang becoming "a second Loulan," referring to another Silk Road stop further west that was swallowed by the desert in the last century.
Dunhuang, where large ubiquitous signs urge water conservation, has moved aggressively, placing tight restrictions on all new inward migration, wells and farms.
But the impact on residents has been harsh.
Standing amid his withering cotton fields, 64-year-old Dai Nianzuo said tough water rationing has dramatically reduced yields.
The 3,000 yuan (400 dollars) he used to make each year from his crops has been slashed to about 1,200 yuan.
"The situation is very bad for us and the government does not have an answer," he said, holding a tattered burlap bag full of freshly picked cotton.
Greenpeace's Li commends official efforts so far but says authorities must make the issue -- and especially the climate change impact -- a higher priority.
Greenpeace recommendations include incentives to develop wind power in threatened areas so that precious vegetation is not harvested for use as fuel, and taking biodiversity into account when selecting tree species for reforestation.
"If we don't stress climate change in the overall plan, that could make for a very unpleasant future," Li said.
Ma, the onion farmer, hopes to turn the situation to her advantage by turning her property into a tourist stop for the growing numbers of visitors coming to hike the majestic Kumtag dunes.
But the government has placed restrictions on operations such as these, too.
"I need money to start something like that but the government gives me no support," she said, her feet crunching along in the sand.
Greenpeace is so nucking futs. They can take a very sound concept that the Chinese have been ignoring, that is diversifying the tree stands the million Chinese laborers plant each year, and mix it in with a wholy unsustainable concept that is ridiculous on it’s face, thereby making Greenpeace’s entire argument lose all face to the Chinese bureaucrats who would make decisions on the matter.
You can not put windpower generation in a desert that has sand storms with the intensity and massive airborne particulate mass as seen in Western China.
The massive bureaucracy that has been created for reforestation could easily diversify their tree nurseries though. Driving through China seeing 100,000 trees on the outskirts of a city all of the same species and same size is a sad sight, one of the more striking memories I have of my time there.
In a place that doesn't have much water, they're planting trees? This is the stupidest thing imaginable. Deserts don't become forests via tree planting - even in Israel, river water is diverted to water its farms. Aquifers are a finite resource - it's truly nutty to think desertification could be slowed down via tree-planting when in fact, this speeds up desertification. This is exactly why human settlements have vanished in the past - they used up their water supply and had to leave.
A related article is here:
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/194083.php/Chinas-equivalent-of-Sistine-Chapel-in-peril
The whole area became liveable only at the end of the Ice Age when the melting glaciers created river valleys. When the glaciers completely melted, the river valleys and lakes dried up...and,continue to do so to this day.
That’s amazing.
See here: Mummy Mystery
LOL! thanks...what time is that in Oz?
When I wrote that...I wondered how you'd figure it out for your time.
Israel also manages its water, using trickle irrigation, including technology which senses when the leaves are running dry, causing the tree to literally water itself. Of course, Israel’s irrigated trees are producers of fruit, not just pine or whatever.
“National Geographic will have a TV show on the Caucasian Mummies at 9:00PM EST, Sunday night, 12-2-2007.
See here: Mummy Mystery”
Thanks, will set the DVR when I get home.
This Xinjiang/Central Asia, area around Liao River, ancient Hindu civilization site now in S. Pakistan, Sumerian sites, and ancient Egyptian sites(around Khufu's time)
Our ancient history is either buried in the desert/waste land(after Ice Age before 2000 BC) or under the water (during the Ice Age.)
Well said.
Sunday night bump.
National Geographic will have a TV show on the Caucasian Mummies at 9:00PM EST, Sunday night, 12-2-2007.
Thanks. I have all the books on this subject so....I'm going to watch the Soprano's instead.
Thanks for the bump, though.
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