New Tales of the Gobi Desert
Beacon Hill School, Daniel Young, Non-Fiction: Group 2
I
thought that a desert was a place of no fun and no hope. It was too cold in winter and too
hot in summer. There were few green plants, but our visit to the Inner Mongolia, including
the Gobi Desert this summer has changed my mind.
We visited the Western National Park and modern factories. We saw green grasses and
trees growing well in many places to stop the desert from expanding. Many people there are
working hard to make the desert into a place of hope. Uncle Wu, our generous host during the
visit, was among those hard-working people, and his story tells new tales of hope.
Uncle Wu was born in early 1950s near the Gobi Desert. Like most poor families in the desert
area, his family was always starving for food. He wore rags and often went to bed hungry. Most
young people wanted to move big cities, but not Uncle Wu. He was determined to change his
hometown with his intelligence and knowledge.
Uncle Wu studied agriculture in Beijing. After he graduated, he and some young scientists
collaborated in inventing a type of fertilizer that helps plats to survive the extreme weather in
deserts and to grow faster.
They experienced a lot of difficulty. They had to sell their homes to borrow money for their
machines and also had to encourage farmers to have a free try of their new fertilizer.
Fortunately, his desert dreams are coming true. His factory is the third largest one in the Inner
Mongolia. More and more farmers are using the fertilizer. Uncle Wu and his friends are rich now so
they built the only three-star hotel in the desert area to attract visitors. We had two great nights in
the desert hotel. Thanks for their efforts; the Gobi Desert is becoming a place of green hope.
Uncle Wu’s company was listed in Nasdaq in 2009 under the code YONG, which means forever.
