GenZedong

Jokes aside, i am fascinated with this region and with what China has been accomplishing there. Just the fact that they managed to build whole highways through an enormous shifting sand desert that is basically the size of Germany is a feat in and of itself. The most recent one actually finished just over a year ago:

http://english.ts.cn/system/2024/11/20/036937530.shtml

And on top of that they've also built what they call their "first zero-carbon desert highway":

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202406/1313925.shtml

As your post hints at, all around the desert they've now built a "green wall":

https://www.charmission.cn/explorechina/201.html

And since i love maps, here are a couple showing the quite extensive desert highway network:

In fact by now there is actually a fourth north-south connection:

All of these cut travel times by a lot since now you no longer have to drive around the entire desert. The way they build these is also super fascinating because they obviously have to stop the sand from engulfing the road, so they make these huge grass grids to keep the sand back.

And right at the crossroads of two of those highways, in the middle of the desert more than a hundred kilometers from any other major settlement, is a town called Tazhong. This Chinese travel vlogger went there and it's fascinating to see how people live in such a remote location.

Here's some more cool maps:

The old silk road:

Tarim river tributary system (some of these rivers only flow seasonally, if at all... it's a very dry place):

Vegetation & altitude map:

Much of that green didn't use to be there, a lot of these oases have been purposely expanded by China to create more vegetation and area for cultivation. Though climate change is also a factor as it accelerates melting of snow and ice in the surrounding mountains, increasing runoff water.