Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
Ancient City Ruins in the Deserts of the Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region of China
During the first century B.C. the Chinese built cities along the Hexi Corridor to protect the
ancient Silk Road from raids by Huns. A Hun ruler reciprocated by founding his own city
and later Chinese dynasties repeated the process. Urban populations were fed by cultivating
oases and by harnessing melt-water streams to irrigate and reclaim areas of grassland.
Where trees fell and cultivation broke surface layers of alluvium and clay, water and wind
began to erode and expose underlying beds of sand. Blowing sand encroached upon the
cultivated area and eventually drifted across the ruins of former cities. Sites of cities that
once housed tens of thousands of people are now being explored scientifically. Research
into the recurrent history of desertification throws light on present-day problems faced by
one-sixth of the world's population living in arid regions and by one-third of the earth's land
surface covered by deserts. By learning from past events we may be able to halt future
advances of deserts.
The scenes of my lecture are extremely dreary places, age-old ruins buried, or
partly buried, by blown sand for centuries. Nevertheless, these long-forgotten ancient
cities have a prosperous past behind them: some have enjoyed great fame in history,
others have been visited by travellers of world renown. Now, in today's New China,
my young colleagues and I have penetrated into the deserts to investigate these ruins
of ancient cities, not to indulge in nostalgic contemplations of the past, nor to revel
in the vanished splendours of bygone days. We look back on the past for one purpose
only: to make out why such a region that once flourished in history should have
turned into a desert. To clarify this point is a matter of great moment. It is for the
purpose of creating a better future that we endeavour to understand the past.
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