Ordos in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which is on the frontlines of China's Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, is accelerating desert control by blending traditional wisdom with modern technology.

A new "airflow planting" method allows workers to plant a tree in just eight seconds. Using a high-pressure water jet, a narrow hole about one meter deep is formed in the sand, where a sapling is quickly inserted and watered in one step.

Compared with traditional digging, which once took over 10 minutes per tree with low survival rates and heavy water loss, this new method is far more efficient, saving time, labor, and up to 70 percent of water. In areas with deeper groundwater, spiral drilling technology is used, cutting planting time to about 10 seconds while raising survival rates to more than 65 percent.

The breakthrough reflects decades of struggle and innovation in Ordos. From the manual planting of willows in the 1980s to "bottle planting" in the 1990s, generations of desert workers endured harsh conditions to green the land.

Today, supported by partnerships with research institutes such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ordos has developed more than 290 desert-control technologies, including large-pit planting, film mulching, and intelligent tree-planting robots.

Through science and innovation, Ordos is turning deserts once known as the "sea of death" into thriving oases, offering a model of technology-driven ecological restoration.