Accompanied by his donkey, a boy looks into the distance of his homeland.
Wearing a loose gown and traditional Mongolian boots, a shepherd herds his sheep on a horseback in the vast land of Inner Mongolia, a sparse wake of Mongolian yurts scattered behind him.
This is the typical picture conjured by most Chinese when thinking of Inner Mongolia. Today, this is actually a minority portion of the autonomous region of China.
Tamusubulage in the west, which means "spring of richness" in Mongolian, is just such a place. With plants thinly distributed and ubiquitous camel skeletons bared in the light brown sand, the views here betray the fecund connotation of its name.
Lying east to the Badanjilin Desert, Tamusubalage has been tortured by frequent sand storms over the past decade, and its lush pastures eaten away by overabundant herds.
Alerted to the deteriorating ecological environment, the government launched a “Restoring Grassland” campaign in 2006, urging locals to quit herding and move to the neighboring town of Alatengaobao in the south. Since then, thousands of Mongolians have given up their homes and nomadic lifestyles, settled down in a new land, and begun cultivating crops like farmers elsewhere all over China.
As the water level lowers, it takes a whole family’s teamwork to pump water from one well.
Camel skeletons litter the desert sands.
While a few plants still survive the severe environment, abandoned houses fall into disrepair.
A woman is weighing Cistanche Deserticola, a special local herb that her husband has collected from nearby shrubberies.
A former herdsman has settled down and begun farming instead.
Water reigns supreme for every family in Tamusubulage..
With the skin of his last sheep being dried in the sun, the herdsman is prepared to bid farewell to his nomadic lifestyle.
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Since 2004, EO's senior photographer Luo Jian has been working on "China Corner", a photo project that focuses on overlooked communities impacted by China's urbanization and other processes. Different themes under this project will be featured in Photo Essay once a week. Luo is a graduate from the China News Academy. The accompanying essay was written by staff editor Zuo Maohong.
