Why did the Chinese build the longest track in the middle of the desert

China can rightfully be called one of the most ancient and mysterious civilizations. It was the Chinese who patented many inventions, significant and ingenious. People still use them in their lives today. It was in China that the first began to produce porcelain, paper and silk. Here, they were the first to drill and produce gas for the purpose of using it in the form of fuel, they built the world's longest river channel and the Great Wall of China. And now, not so long ago, they have also built a highway in the desert, the length of which is nowhere else.

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1. Desert Takla Makan

Takla Makan is one of the largest deserts in the world, it is located in the western part of China / Photo: chinadiscovery.com

The construction of this highway was carried out in difficult conditions. Takla Makan is one of the largest deserts in the world, located in the western part of China. Its approximate area is 337,600 square kilometers, and this is practically the territory of Germany, which is 357,380 square kilometers.

The desert stretches for 1,500 kilometers in length and 650 kilometers in width. The inhabitants of China themselves call it “the sea of ​​death”, which means, according to one of the existing versions, “whoever goes will not return”. The fact is that the climatic conditions of the desert are more than harsh. In summer, the temperature here reaches +40 degrees Celsius. At the same time, the temperature of the sands themselves reaches one hundred degrees.

There is no more than 50 mm of precipitation in Takla-Makan per year, which provokes the occurrence of dust and sand storms. Naturally, taking into account all this, the fauna and flora are very poor here. Living organisms are found only near the Khotan River, a tributary of the Tarim, the only one in this area. Occasionally there are jerboas, lizards, gerbils, hares, snakes, wild camels and antelopes. No one lives in the rest of the desert. Despite this, the Chinese in 1995 carried out along the Takla-Makan Tarim highway.

2. History of the road

The construction of the highway began in 1993. Its total length is 552 kilometers, 446 of which run directly along the desert, which made it the longest of all roads in this category. To implement the project, the authorities needed to invest about $ 14,000,000 for each kilometer of the highway. Construction was completed by 1995. And after some time, they suddenly saw that the track was rather heavily covered with sand. This has become a serious threat to the existence and movement of the Tarim highway.

To somehow stop this process, the engineers decided to plant bushes along the route and trees, but such plants were required that could survive in such difficult climatic conditions. It took five years to compile a list of such plants. Among others, saxaul and willow were brought into it. Planting was carried out in 1996. The length of the road section was six kilometers.

Two years later, the landscaping was expanded and the trees were planted already on a site of 30 kilometers. In 2003 g. the project was officially approved by the authorities. For irrigation of green spaces, a special irrigation system was created, which has become unique. Wells were drilled a hundred meters deep. Water is supplied by pumps. Despite the strong mineralization of the water, it suits the plants, and they feel good. The green spaces are seventy meters wide. The entire area is three thousand hectares. As a result, trees grow 400 kilometers along the road.

For the system to function perfectly, there are stations every four kilometers, where up to a hundred people work. It is they who are responsible for the functioning of the irrigation system. Gas stations and restaurants were opened along the road.

3. Why do the Chinese need a track in the desert

So why did the Chinese overcome so many difficulties and invest such fabulous money in the construction of a road in the desert? The highway connects two cities - Longtai and Min-Fyn. Thanks to the road, it is now possible to overcome the desert in just one day. But this is not the main reason.

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All this colossal work was done to extract gas and oil from the oil and gas-bearing Tarim Basin. It contains about a third of the total production of hydrocarbon minerals in the Middle Kingdom. The deposit was discovered in the middle of the last century, but it was not possible to realize the potential of the find due to the lack of sufficient technical equipment. So, as a result of many years of searching for an optimal way out of the situation, it was decided to build a route for the transportation of oil.

Despite the difficult conditions, people figured out how to survive in the kingdom of sands and the scorching sun and built underground city in the Australian desert: why there are more and more people wanting to live underground.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/270321/58347/

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