The Life of a Chinese Farmer

My family and I are Chinese farmers living in the Qinghai province of China. A large part of Qinghai's area, until the early 20th century most often referred to by its Mongol name Kokonur in English, lies outside of China proper and has been an ethnic melting pot for centuries, mixing Tibetan, Han Chinese, Mongol, and Turkic influences. The eastern part of the area of Qinghai was under the control of the Han Dynasty about 2000 years ago. It was a battleground during the Tang and subsequent Chinese dynasties when they fought against successive Tibetan tribes. The province lies on the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in west China, bordering Gansu and Sichuan provinces, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region. As the origin of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers, Qinghai has an area of 720,000 square kilometers, the fourth largest in China. Its territory includes 3.86 million hectares of grassland, 590,000 hectares of cultivated land and 266,000 hectares of forest (Qinghai).  Of the five pasturelands in China, Qinghai has 36.46 hectares of pastureland, accounting for 50.54 percent of the province’s total area (Qinghai). Soil erosion, water shortage, and deforestation. The conservation of the ecological balance is the basis of the development of west China. Qinghai is the original place of several rivers and is thus important to the ecological balance of the entire region. In the coming 15 years, the province will improve its conservation of the ecological balance, including the protection of the water and soil in six areas: the sources of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, Qinghai Lake, the arid mountains in the east, the Longyang Gorge Reservoir, and the Qaidam Basin. It is necessary not only to strengthen the protection of natural forests, grasslands, and other sources of wild plants and animals but also to increase the restoration of deteriorated grasslands and the construction of shelter-forests. It is also necessary to increase... [continues]

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