More than 30,000 volunteers from across China came to Minqin County in Gansu Province to take part in a large-scale campaign against desertification. For decades, the region has been protecting farmland and water resources by planting trees and shrubs and growing drought-resistant crops.
The project gained fresh momentum in 2024 thanks to an initiative by desertification-control specialist Zhong Jin. After returning to his home county following his studies, he launched the “Plant a Tree in Minqin” campaign and began using short videos on social media to draw attention to the region’s problems. Additional attention came from the popular reality show “Become a Farmer,” whose participants spent nearly half a year learning agriculture on a site covering about 450 hectares.
After online registration opened, tens of thousands of volunteers arrived in Minqin from February to May. They included students, families with children, and fans of the TV project. Despite sandstorms, heat, and difficult living conditions, people paid their own travel costs and took part in planting trees.
The campaign aims to plant one million trees to protect agricultural and water zones. The project is already helping the local economy: entrepreneurs are creating tourist routes that combine ecological sites, natural attractions, and cultural programs.
Such projects have usually relied mainly on administrative resources. In Minqin’s case, social media helped tell the story of the problem, and a popular TV show turned a distant, arid region into a place people are willing to travel thousands of kilometers to visit for a few trees planted.
