20100322 Desert storm blankets most of North China(4)

clipped from www.chinadaily.com.cn China's sandstorms were at their worst in the 1950s and 1960s after campaigns to raise farm and factory output stripped the soil of vegetation. Because of those campaigns, archaeologists have found that sandstorms are reducing some packed-earth sections of the Great Wall in western China to "mounds of dirt" that may disappear in 20 years. In 1978, the central government launched the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, the world's largest forestation project, to help stop deserts from expanding across the "three northern areas", which includes more than 98 percent of land affected by desertification in China and 96 percent of its sandy land. So far more than 53 million hectares of forests have been planted, official statistics show. Residents in North China and their pets covered up to avoid breathing in the dust, which doctors warned can aff ect the eyes and respiratory system. [PHOTOS BY QI TA & XINHUA]