Sandstorms Shroud Beijing, Northern China

A sandstorm in Shenyang, in China's northeastern Liaoning Province, on April 11, 2023. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Sandstorms continue to wreak havoc in parts of China. Air dust covers most of the region north of the Yangtze River, causing air pollution in at least 18 provinces and cities.

According to the latest three-day forecast, sandstorms will continue in North China from April 13 to 15. The sandstorm in the north is anticipated to continue for the following week.

“I can smell and taste the sand sitting in the emergency room with an N95 mask,” a Chinese netizen said on social media on April 11.

On March 19, China issued its first sandstorm warning for the spring season when cold high pressure went southward.

Between March 19 and 22, severe sandstorms hit an area of 894.5 million acres, covering 15 provinces, Beijing, and 1,212 counties.

On March 10, a heavy sandstorm filled Beijing’s sky with yellow sand.

Earlier last month, multiple provinces and cities encountered intense sandstorms twice.

China’s sandstorm originates from the north and the northwest and migrates south and east to Beijing. Sometimes it affects the bordering North Korea and Japan in the east.

Beijing

On April 11, Beijing was hit with strong winds, accompanied by sand and dust, with wind gusts reaching level 9 or above.

Local media reported the urban area in Beijing was shrouded in yellow sand.

A resident surnamed Chen from the Shunyi District of Beijing told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times that sand could quickly get into one’s mouth even when it’s slightly opened. Most people wear a mask and/or cover their face with a scarf outdoors.

Commuters wait for a bus during a sandstorm in Beijing on April 11, 2023. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

He said the current storm reminds most people of the severe sandstorms in the 1990s.

Chen believes the frequent sandstorms are associated with desertification in the north.

Inner Mongolia

Strong sandstorms also hit Inner Mongolia; yellow sands covered the south-central city of Ulanqab.

“It [the city] is all darkened by red sands,” Nareen (pseudonym), a resident of Dorbod Banner of Ulanqab, told The Epoch Times on April 11.

She said it used to be a localized sandstorm. “But this time, it’s really serious. The sandstorm hits like waves as the winds blow the sand high up into the air.”

The Gobi Desert

The cause of the severe sandstorms was a popular topic on Chinese social media.

One netizen wrote: “Since the super heavy sandstorm in the 1990s, the PM2.5 has become a major part of the memory. In recent years the sandstorms have suddenly returned. Is it possible that desertification in Mongolia has become more serious?”

PM2.5 refers to air particulates with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less, the fine inhalable particles believed to be an index for air quality.

Another wrote: “I remember that there was a saying in the first few years when smog was heavy: ‘The Great Greenwall in the north controls the sand but not the smog.’ To control the smog, urban ventilation channels were started. So is the sand blown over [to Beijing] again?”

The Great Greenwall, also known as the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, is a 72-year development plan from 1978 to 2050. It aims to create windbreaks along 2,800 miles of all three northern regions of China: the North, the Northeast, and the Northwest. The wall is designed to hold back the Gobi Desert’s expansion and block the path of sandstorms sweeping southwards from the desert to Beijing.

To speed up the establishment of the Green Wall, local authorities chose the poplar tree to create a clonal grove. But there were several problems, such as poplars are fast-growing but short-lived.

According to a 2016 report, the rampant bald beetle destroyed many poplars in recent years. The high water demand of poplars was also a burden to groundwater reserves.

Some experts believe the aging of the man-made forest and the depleting underground water led to the return of the sandstorm since the spring of 2000.

Xiao Lusheng and Hong Ning contributed to this report.