The oasis, covering an area of 16,000 square kilometers, has played an important role in protecting the Hexi Corridor, a major section of the ancient Silk Road, from sandstorms and strong winds.

A complex project started here Thursday to save the Minqin oasis, as part of a program to avoid the two deserts, located at the border of northwest China's Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia, from finally converging.

The oasis area, covering five small townships with a population of 80,000, had been a lake since the Han Dynasty (BC 206 to 220) and the last lake area dried up in the mid 1950s.

At the small village of Huanghui on the boundary of the oasis, villagers have to carry water five km for daily use.

Villagers plant trees every year but could not stop the desert, said Sheng Tangguo, a Huanghui villager.

He said 10 years ago 40 families lived at the village and only two remain.

The annual average income for the five townships has dropped from 1,468 yuan (US$177.51) per capita in 1997 to 800 yuan (US$96.74) because of the worsening environment, said Chen Dexing, head of Minqin County.

Chen expected the protection project to stop the degradation of the environment and increase local residents' income.

According to the provincial government, the three-year project would first improve water conservancy in the Shiyang River, the main source of water in the oasis, to guarantee 131 million cubic meters of water supply.

About 20,000 residents were expected to move out of the oasis and the farming area to shrink from 10,666 hectares to about 6666.67 with the introduction of eco-friendly and sustainable agriculture technologies.

The project will need a total investment of 300 million yuan (US$36.28 million).

The average per capita net income is expected to increase by 150 yuan (US$18.14) in three years.

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2003)