Minqin County swallowed by the desert

Satellite view of the Yellow river's middle basin with Minqin County area circled. To the east of it is the Tengger desert and to the north-west is the Badain Juran desert. The Yellow river flows at the south of it. The large lake to the south of the mountains is Lake Qinghai Photograph: Getty Images

Boats rest on the bottom of a dried reservoir in Minqin County. The area is suffering from the most serious drought as most parts of China have seen continuous rainfalls recently. The oasis will shrink and eventually disappear if the drought continues Photograph: Hai Ying/Corbis

An abandoned house facing the approaching desert in Minqin. All 364 villagers moved out of the village after the desert expanded into nearby farm fields. The 87,000 hectares of forest planted in the past 10 years, an effort to curb the desert expansion, withered and died in vast stretches due to a reduction of the groundwater level and water supply difficulties in Minqin. Only a little more than 20,000 hectares survived Photograph: SHAN YUE/EPA

A Chinese farmer walks amid a heavy sand storm in Minqin County, north-west of China's Gansu province. A cold front is forecast to hit China in the next three days, bringing a chill to the north and strong rains to the south, according to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) Photograph: China Daily/Reuters

Plumes of dust sweep across the Tengger desert in north-central China. Hemmed by the Qilian mountains in the south and the Yellow river in the east, the desert forms the southern border of Inner Mongolia. Though not visible, the Great Wall of China runs through this image between the Tengger and the mountains in the south. The large lake to the south of the mountains is Lake Qinghai Photograph: MODIS/NASA/GSFC

Water shortages in Minqin Oasis in Gansu Province, northern China Photograph: Jonathan Watts

Isolated from the Minqin Oasis, a tree dies in the Tengger desert Photograph: Jonathan Watts

Villagers plant sacsaoul trees in Minqin County, north-west China's Gansu province Photograph: Han Chuanhao/Corbis

Villagers water sacsaoul trees in Minqin County, north-west China's Gansu Province. The county fenced about 8,667 hectares of sand land and artificially afforested other 4,500 hectares in 2008. The county planned to artificially reafforest some 5,400 hectares of sand land this year Photograph: Han Chuanhao/Corbis

Farmers plant crops on the edge of the desert Photograph: Jonathan Watts

Huang Cuikun at the bottom of a dried-up river that once ran past his his old home Photograph: Jonathan Watts

New homes built by the government for the eco-refugees Photograph: Jonathan Watts

Wild flowers can only been seen in plastic in Minqin county Photograph: Jonathan Watts

A sand dune in the Tengger desert, a short walk from Huang's home Photograph: Jonathan Watts