A desert doesn't sound like the most promising¹ place to plant a tree.

沙漠听上去不像是最理想的种树之地。

Yet, since 1978, China has planted at least 66 billion of them across its arid² northern territories, hoping to transform its sandy steppes and yellow dunes³ into a Great Green Wall.

但是自1978年以来，我国已在干旱的北方地区栽种了至少660亿棵树木，希望能将沙质草原和黄色沙丘变成一座“绿色长城”。

The tree-planting strategy is an attempt to fight desertification.

这个植树造林战略是为对抗荒漠化做出的尝试。

The State Forestry⁴ Administration claims the measure has reduced sandstorms by 20%.

国家林业局称，近年来，这项举措使沙尘暴减少了20%。

Malaysian-British photographer Ian Teh works throughout Asia, documenting humans' impact on the landscape. Over six days in May 2016, he photographed tree-planting projects in the Gobi Desert in northern China.

马来西亚裔英国摄影师郑永仁因为工作奔波于亚洲各地，记录人类对景观造成的影响。在2016年5月的6天中，他拍下了在华北戈壁沙漠中展开的植树造林项目。

They seemed successful in places like Duolun County, some 322 km north of Beijing, where the government has planted 2.6 million trees over the past 17 years. The place felt pastoral, almost lush.

在位于北京以北约322公里处的多伦县等地，植树造林项目似乎取得了成功；在过去17年里，政府种植了260万棵树木。那里一派田园风光，几乎可以说是草木茂盛。

Teh had to stop his car on the side of the highway and hike several minutes over dunes just to see where the wind-blown grass ended and the sand began.

郑永仁不得不将车停在公路边，徒步走几分钟，翻过沙丘，才能看到在风中摇曳的草木与沙地接壤的地方。

"To be honest, it was hard to imagine it was ever a desert at all," he says.

郑永仁对此表示：“老实说，很难想象这里曾是一片沙漠。”