Places unseen

"I could not see anyone in absolute poverty in Guangdong. I knew they must be in the places unseen, the farthest places," Ye explains the reason for participation.

His family did not support his decision at first because of the arduous work involved and unfriendly climate in the west, even though they had encouraged him by telling him the history of poverty alleviation.

After negotiating with his family, Ye thought he was prepared for the tough conditions, but the job was more difficult than he had imagined.

With other cadres and three volunteers from Guangdong, he lived right above his office and was on standby 24 hours a day. The job having nothing to do with his major, microelectronics science and engineering, made it harder for him to adapt to the new environment.

"Neither cadres nor volunteers had weekends and sometimes they even worked overtime until 6 am. There was no 'balance' between life and work," he says.

The dry climate presented another big challenge. Unsealed cookies there do not get softer after several days, but crispier. Cadres also joked that waking up to a dry and bleeding nose was a reminder that they were in Xinjiang.

Low in humidity and with a lack of foliage, sandstorms often occur, even in the summer. "When it came to a light sandstorm, the sun would look like a 5-watt lightbulb. As it got stronger, the sun would disappear," Ye says.

Agriculture development in Kashgar is also hampered by the bad climate. Pieces of saline land are unable to grow anything as if they were covered by frost.

"It was May when I first saw the saline land. I was wondering why the snow had not melted," Ye recalls with resignation. "There was nothing we could do with the land except to convert it into cattle or sheep farms."