In 1958, in the northern desert of Jinchang, Northwest China's Gansu province, Qingshan farm was set up by soldiers, intellectuals and local farmers.

Facing the pressures of the natural and market environments, farmers of the older generation are less willing to plant and the community's young people, who are mostly gone to cities for urban education and employment, are reluctant to return home to continue the challenging life of windblown sediment on the land.

As the third generation to farm at Qingshan, Li Fei, a member of the post-90s generation, returned to his hometown from the city of Lanzhou in 2016, and led local farmers to plant 160 hectares of pumpkins in the desert.

Since then, the former desert has blossomed into an oasis and the farmers who remain at the front line of the desert now see the hope of poverty alleviation on the horizon.

Li firmly believes that as the third generation to work the farm, he should stay here and carry on the work passed down from the older generations and keep building his hometown.