Vehicles run on the Yulin-Jingbian Expressway through the Maowusu Desert in Yulin City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 1, 2018. The expressway is the first of the kind built in a desert in China. The administrative region of Yulin City is located to the south of the Maowusu Desert. Environment protection measures have curbed the expansion of the desert and then witnessed the retreat of the desert as a result of the increase in planted forests and grasslands after reducing and stopping farming and animal husbandry. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)