Franco Guidi Photography

A Journey between Earth and Sky

Xinjiang, the Uyghur autonomous region of China with 44.8 per cent of the desert area and 43 per cent of the whole country’s desert area, is the biggest desertification province in China and even in the world.

The Xinjiang division of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) disclosed investments of up to 1.8 billion RMB in sand prevention and control projects only around the Tarim Basin area, to better resist sandstorm damage, contain desertification as well as to improve the quality and coverage of natural vegetation.

The investment is earmarked to prevent the further expansion of the Gurbantunggut Desert in the Junggar Basin of northern Xinjiang, and the expansion of the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin in the south of the region.

The aim is to cut the desert area by 7.6 million hectares by 2015 to protect Xinjiang’s ecological environment and social development sustainably.

The following series of images documents a personal journey by train through this fascinating and arduous environment where it seems that there is only the presence of two natural elements, earth and sky.