Straw checkerboard conquers the desert in Inner Mongolia

Do you think it takes heavy machinery to turn deserts green? In Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the answer is simpler: the straw checkerboard — dubbed the "Chinese magic cube". It locks shifting sand in place and lets nature heal itself.

The 20,000-hectare Ganzhuer sandy land, born from a few pits dug in the 1940s, has been fully restored. Tall green "edge-locking" belts and reed barriers hold the line. Every hill that was once bare white sand is now covered in green.

Watch how this low-cost, high-impact Chinese innovation conquers the desert.