China transforms it's second biggest desert into a fertile oasis

Xinjiang, China - 12 August, 2007 1. Various aerial shots desert and oasis Xinjiang, China - 13 August, 2007 2. Pan of desert 3. Wide of assault tree in the desert 4. Pull focus from sand to trees 5. Mid shot of plant in the desert 6. Close up shot of plant 7. Various set-ups Wand Jianbing 8. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Wand Jianbing, Commander of 150 Regiment, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp: "Before these trees did not exist and this place was nothing but desert. With the consistent efforts of the two generations of people of the stationed troops, we managed to extend the oasis into the desert for 70 kilometres (43.5 miles)." 9. Pull-out from oasis to sand 10. Wide shot of cotton field with trees behind 11. Various trees 12. Pan Zhang Yigui walking out of house 13. Close up hands working with cotton leaves 17. Wide shot of Zhang Yigui working at his cotton field 18. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Zhang Yigui, Farmer of the 150 Regiment, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp: "The wind was very strong, especially during the sandstorm we saw nothing but sand. Sometimes we went out of the house in the evening to go to the toilet and when we come back only our teeth can be seen and the rest of our faces were covered by sand. Now it is much, much better though there is sometimes some wind and sand." 19. Wide shot of people in cotton field 20. Mid shot of man working in the cotton field 21. Close up of cotton bud 22. Mid shot of man operating irrigation system with computer 23. Close up of computer screen 24. Pan Zhang Zhenhai to irrigation tunnel 25. Close up of dripping irrigation band in the cotton field 26. Close up of water coming out the band 27. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Zhang Zhenhai, Director of the Dripping Irrigation Station of 150 Regiment "We can expand our farmland with the saved water because now we can irrigate much more land with the same amount of water used before. Also we can use more water for planting trees. We are located in the middle of the desert and the sandstorm is still a threat to us so we must save more water for planting more trees." Xinjiang, China - 14 August, 2007 27. Close up of plastic band dripping water on the field with flowers 28. Mid shot of band dripping water 29. Wide shot of machines in the workshop 30. Close up of dripping band being produced 31. Mid shot of worker working in the workshop 32. Mid shot of band being rolled 33. Close up of band being rolled 34. Wide shot of tubes in workshop 35. Close up of tubes 36. Mid shot of men talking 37. Mid shot of workers moving tube 38. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Zhang Baomin, Vice President, Xinjiang Tianye Water Saving Technology Company "Tianye company imported the irrigation technology from Israel and later we managed to lower the costs enormously by assimilating and localising the technology. The costs for the farmers to use our products services are only one eighth to one tenth of those with Israeli products. Therefore we have an extremely large platform to promote our products and services." Xinjiang, China - 14 August, 2007 39. Wide shot of showcase of irrigation system of Tianye company 40. Close up and tilt of irrigation system LEAD IN: Part of the desert region of Xinjiang in North Eastern China is turning green. Desert is being converted to farmland thanks to the latest in irrigation technology. STORYLINE: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China's largest provincial-level administrative zone, is a large and sparely populated area which takes up one-sixth of the country's territory and 60 percent of the county's deserts. In the last 50 years the oasis at Gurbantunggut, which is the second biggest desert of Xinjiang, has been gradually expanding from its southern border. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4b154e72bc09215f0f88dd02cac67280 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork