Yin Yuzhen, a native of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region who is renowned for combating sandstorms in the hinterlands of the Maowusu Desert, once said she would rather work herself to death fighting the sand than be tortured to death by it blowing in the wind.

Data from the region's forestry department shows that since 1985, Yin has converted more than 4,000 hectares of desolate desert into habitable green space.

In 1985 the then 20-year-old Yin married in Jingbeitang village, of which her family members were the sole residents because of the wild, desolate conditions.