As spring winds sweep across the Gobi Desert in Northwest China, thousands of young people are heading into the sands with shovels, saplings and a shared determination to hold back the desert from March to May. It has become an unexpected destination for many Chinese Gen-Zers, not for sightseeing, but for planting trees and searching for a sense of purpose.

Over the past three years, more than 100,000 volunteer visits from across the country have helped restore about 1,000 hectares of desert through large-scale tree planting and sand-control efforts.

This year alone, more than 40,000 volunteers have traveled to Minqin county in Gansu province, which is surrounded by China's third and fourth largest deserts, the Badain Jaran and the Tengger. For many of them, the journey began with an online invitation: "Come to Minqin and plant a tree".

Once known for its severe desertification, Minqin has long stood on the front line of China's battle against encroaching sands.

Since the 1950s, generations of locals have planted straw checkerboards, and drought-resistant shrubs such as suosuo to stabilize shifting dunes.

Despite these efforts, by the late 1990s, desert covered 94.5 percent of the county. Local people once described life there with a bitter saying: "Sand climbs the walls, donkeys climb onto rooftops, and farmland is abandoned."

The latest statistics show the desertification rate in Minqin at 88.18 percent. The struggle against the desert is attracting new generations. Among them is Zhong Lin, 28, who has posted popular videos of planting trees online.

He first introduced the slogan "Come to Minqin and plant a tree" in 2023, which later became an official public welfare campaign launched by the Communist Youth League Committee of Minqin county in February 2025. By May 5 this year, the campaign had attracted more than 50,000 online registrations.

"We started with just a few people trying to do something meaningful for our hometown," Zhong said."Now more and more young people are joining us. That gives us confidence that this effort can continue."

One of those volunteers is Cai Xiaorui, who joined the campaign after discovering it on social media. This spring, she spent more than 50 days there as a volunteer team leader.

"I saw videos about the campaign online and contacted the organizers through WeChat," Cai said, who is in her twenties. Later she learned they were recruiting long-term volunteers, so she decided to come.

"When we first arrived in early March, everything was still covered by desert," Cai said. "The planting sites were quite far and we had to walk about half an hour to get there. Walking more than 20,000 or even 30,000 steps a day is quite normal for us."

During the day, volunteers dig pits, plant suosuo seedlings, maintain clay sand barriers, and some also help in the kitchen to prepare meals for all participants.

At night, the desert base transforms into a temporary community. Young people gather around bonfires, sing and dance under the stars and talk about their lives far from home.

"Everyone shares the same goal, and all the energy goes in one direction. You feel your days are full and meaningful here," Cai said. "It's not just planting trees. It's also a chance for young people under pressure to reconnect with nature and with each other."

Behind the growing movement is Minqin's "Internet Plus Desert Control" approach, powered by social media.

Volunteers are encouraged to document their daily work through short videos and online posts, helping this movement spread widely. These unpolished yet deeply personal videos have allowed millions of internet users to "see" Minqin for the first time.

During the 2025 spring planting season, related hashtags generated more than 170 million views across online platforms.

The movement has attracted broad public support. Donors from across China have provided mobile toilets, prefab housing, solar power equipment, and daily supplies for volunteers. "Most of our funding comes from donations by companies and ordinary people," said Ma Junhe, a Minqin native who has participated in desert-control work for nearly two decades.

Volunteer Li Xiuniang joined Ma's camp in October last year. Li not only worked to build sand barriers herself but also donated one metric ton of rice to support the volunteers.

"Desert control may take place in Minqin, but it is not only Minqin's problem," Li said. "If the deserts break through here, they could threaten areas even further inland. This is something the whole country should support."

According to local forestry authorities, by May 2025, Minqin had completed a fully enclosed protective green belt stretching 380 kilometers around the oasis, covering a total area of over 143,000 hectares. "This is the result of the wisdom and hard work of Minqin's people, as well as the selfless dedication of volunteers," said Jiang Liling, deputy director of Minqin's forestry and grassland bureau.

Ma Aibin contributed to this story.