Villager Wang Zilong of Majiazi Village turns the sandy beach green and embarks on the road to prosperity

     Wang Zilong, a villager of Majiazi Village in Changsheng Town, Aohan Banner, invested more than 1.6 million yuan over 3 years, contracted 3,300 mu of barren sandy land, and founded a family forest farm, becoming a well-known large-scale sand-control operator near and far.  
     　　  
    On the second day of the first lunar month, the reporter took a public bus for nearly an hour and a half to make a special trip to interview him and his "private" forest farm.    
    Arriving at a patch of poplar trees growing well, Wang Zilong pointed excitedly at several pipe-irrigation outlet valves and said that this was the pipe-irrigation channel he had invested more than 100,000 yuan to build, capable of irrigating a thousand mu of forest land. In a kilometer-long shelterbelt, Wang Zilong explained that in order to properly manage and protect the poplar shelterbelt, he had even spent 13,000 yuan to install "electronic eyes" in the forest land... We walked from one place to another, talking as we went. More than two hours passed, and we had covered two-thirds of the forest farm's "territory." The sweets and bitters, the ups and downs of Wang Zilong's 3 years of sand control and business development were vivid before our eyes. In March 2006, during the off-season for construction, Wang Zilong used this time to approach the Chenjiaweizi Village Committee and the Majiazi Village Committee, and through a bidding process bought 3,300 mu of sandy land located north of the Second Branch of the Sheep Farm, then moved into the desert with his wife and children and founded a family forest farm.   

    Wang Zilong's family forest farm is located in the northeast of Changsheng, with the Second Branch of the Aohan Breeding Sheep Farm to the south, the sandy land of Changsheng Dianzi Village to the east, the sandy land of Majiazi Village to the west, and connected to the sandy land of Aorun Sumu to the north. It is about 1,800 meters long from east to west and 1,200 meters wide from north to south, covering 3,300 mu. A desert-crossing road from Chenjiaweizi to Gaorihan Gacha in Baiyintaohai Sumu of Ongniud Banner runs through the farm, dividing it into an eastern and a western section.   

    At the time of contracting, the shifting sand dunes here were linked one after another, rising and falling unevenly. The sky was filled with yellow sand, and not a single flying bird could be seen; not a blade of grass grew on the ground, and not a single small animal running about could be found. Occasionally a few small "urine bladders" [beetles] could be seen crawling on the shifting dunes, a truly barren land with a very desolate scene. When they first entered the sandy area, looking at his son's cracked lips, his wife said with a belly full of resentment: "Spending more than 400,000 yuan to contract these thousands of mu of worthless sand, what's the point? Is this sand so easy to deal with?" "Starting a business is hard; nothing is easy at the beginning. Weren't we the same when we did construction? You have to persevere in what you do, you have to have ambition." Wang Zilong, a tough man who had been rolling around on construction sites since he was 18, said this while walking deeper into the desert. At this time, at the age of 40, he was already calculating his grand blueprint in his heart. The raging sandstorms and his family's opposition did not change Wang Zilong's determination to control the sand. He went to the town forestry work station and specially hired forestry engineering technicians to carry out overall planning and design for the sandy land, adapting measures to local conditions and providing classified guidance. He decided to start afforestation from places with better site conditions.    
    In April 2006, he hired more than 20 people and signed a "planting contract" with them. They planted a 1,000-meter-long shelterbelt with an area of about 10 mu, using 2,200 large "three-roots-two-trunks" poplar seedlings. In order to better irrigate the trees, they dug one electromechanical well at the edge of the shelterbelt, built one well house, and laid 1,000 meters of pipe irrigation, with an investment of about 140,000 yuan. They planted 380 mu of timber forest, with an investment of 22,800 yuan. However, the weather did not cooperate; due to drought, all the more than 300 mu of small trees planted on the sand mounds died of drought. The drought inspired him to level the sand dunes and turn them into man-made flat land. "He's really crazy, pushing sand. Do you think you're Yu Gong?" After hearing about it, relatives and friends all advised him to give up. Wang Zilong thought it, said it, and did it. He acted as soon as he spoke. He invested 110,000 yuan, went to Xinhui, ran to Chifeng, and bought back a crawler tractor, equipped with a bulldozer blade. In June 2007, with the mechanical equipment in place, he used machinery to prepare the uneven sand dunes, leveling 600 mu of afforestation land, moving 800,000 cubic meters of earthwork, and investing another 400,000 yuan.   

    The main factors limiting tree survival are wind, sand, and drought. Once the "water" problem is solved, tree survival is guaranteed. Based on this understanding, he focused his efforts tightly around the center of "water." To have water, one must dig wells and bring in electricity. In July 2007, Wang Zilong brought in workers from the Changsheng Electric Power Management Station to carry out construction at the forest farm, bought one transformer, erected 2,000 meters of high-voltage lines and 800 meters of low-voltage lines, spending more than 80,000 yuan. At the same time, he invested 39,000 yuan to dig 3 electromechanical wells. He invested more than 80,000 yuan to lay 3,000 meters of pipe irrigation within the afforestation land, capable of irrigating up to a thousand mu.   

    In April 2008, he invested more than 80,000 yuan, adopting measures combining netting, trees, shrubs, and grasses, and using a row-type afforestation method with a 2×4×8 plant-row spacing. He dug trenches for afforestation on 750 mu, investing 15,000 yuan, and planted 45,000 poplar trees, 2,000 fruit trees, and 30,000 shrubs. In autumn, upon acceptance inspection by the forestry department, the survival rate reached 95%.