汽車一路西行，追逐著掛在正前方的落日，遠處的黃河拐了個大彎奔流而來，沿路而行，河谷的那端便是寧夏沙坡頭國家級自然保護區。
The car was chasing westward the setting sun. The Yellow River in the distance rushed down along the road after a big twist. At the end of the river valley is located the Shapotou National Nature Reserve in Ningxia.
沙坡頭位於寧夏回族自治區中衛市，是中國第四大沙漠騰格里沙漠的東南緣，也是全國20個治沙重點區之一。
Shapotou, situated in Zhongwei, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, marks the southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert, the fourth largest of its kind nationwide. It is also one of the 20 key areas for desertification control in China.
落日餘暉為沙坡頭渡上了一層渾厚的金，一行玩沙歸來的遊人興奮的聲音和著黃河水聲飄向遠方，消散在河谷上空。遠處的騰格里沙漠在夕陽的映照下，顯得沉穩、神秘，有一種出乎意料的柔美。
The afterglow gilded Shapotou with a thick layer of gold, below which the shouts of joy from a group of tourists returning from playing with sand mixed with the roar of the Yellow River and gradually dissipated over the valley. The Tengger Desert in the distance looked calm, mysterious, and unconventionally graceful in the setting sun.
沙漠，處處充斥著危險卻也蘊含著浪漫，文人騷客以充沛的情感為她留下了數不盡的絕句，「春風不度玉門關」「西出陽關無故人」抒發著顛沛流離的傷感，「一掃清大漠，包虎戢金戈」「駕長車，踏破賀蘭山缺」寄託了守衛邊疆之志。這一次，當我們走進位於沙坡頭的沙漠博物館時，沙漠荒蠻、野性的一面被揭開。
The desert is full of dangers yet romantic. Too many quatrains were written for the desert. The lines such as 「The spring breeze doesn’t cross Yumen Pass」 and 「You will see no more old friends beyond the Yang Pass」 express the homeless and miserable sense. Those like 「The general mops up enemies with shining spears wrapped in tiger skin」 and 「Let us ride our chariots through the Helan Pass」 indicate the resolve to defend the borders. This time, we walked into Shapotou’s Desert Museum to reveal the barbaric and wild nature of the desert.
走進博物館，仿佛打開了一個百寶箱，通過展板、光電板、投影、觸控螢幕、動感影院等聲、光、電技術，沙漠的形成與發展、世界沙漠與中國沙漠的分布、神奇的沙漠生命、沙漠文化與沙漠傳奇、荒漠化與沙塵暴、沙漠治理與沙產業等不同板塊將沙漠的方方面面剖析在人們面前，將大眾從沙漠的浪漫印象中抽離開來，以更科學的角度為人們展示沙漠的前世今生。
The museum is like a treasure chest. The formation and development of deserts, the distribution of deserts across China and the world, the magical desert life, the culture and legends of deserts, desertification and sandstorms, and desert governance and the sand industry are told through display panels, photoelectric panels, projections, touch screens, 3D theaters and other sound, light, and electrical means. In this way, the desert, previously a romantic object, is better depicted from a scientific perspective.
除了沙漠本身，其孕育的沙漠生態體系也被一層層剝離在遊人的視野之中。展廳內，稀有鳥類、水生以及兩棲動物、甲殼類生物以及各類植物的標本，打破了人們對沙漠缺少生命的刻板印象，將沙坡頭生物多樣性的靈動面展示給遊人。由沙雕、壁畫以及牧民日常生活組成的沙漠文化展區，則展示出了沙漠嫋嫋炊煙的生活面。
Besides the desert itself, the ecosystem it nurtures is also disclosed to visitors. In the exhibition hall, there are specimens of rare birds, aquatic animals, amphibians, crustaceans and various plants. The biodiversity in Shapotou shatters people’s stereotype about the lack of lives in the desert. The desert culture exhibition area, with sand sculptures, murals and daily routines of herdsmen, shows the scenes of life in the desert.
而展廳內最引人注目的焦點，莫過於一個個由麥草編織而成的方格，這些方格是幾代治沙人奮鬥的成果，也是整座沙漠博物館最為精髓的展示內容。聆聽著講解員的講述，我們仿佛回到了62年前的寧夏中衛沙坡頭，那時候的這裡，目光所及全無綠色，飛沙走石黃沙溢，正是在這樣的環境之中誕生了令世界震驚的「中國魔方」。
The most eye-catching things in the exhibition hall are the squares woven with wheat straw. The squares mark the achievements of generations in desertification control, and they are the essence of the museum. The guide took us back to the Shapotou, Zhongwei, Ningxia, 62 years ago when there was no plant at all but full of sand and rocks. From it the 「magic designs by China」 were created and amazed the world.
中國魔方
Magic designs by China
一段傳奇的開始總帶著一絲偶然，被譽為「中國魔方」的「麥草方格固沙法」同樣如此。
A legend may start with a contingency. That is how the sand-fixing grid with wheat straw, known as 「magic designs by China,」 was invented.
「方格固沙是怎樣研究出來的？」一同參觀沙漠博物館的人群中，終於有人忍不住問出了大家共同的疑問，「麥草方格的落地其實相當偶然。」講解員不急不緩地給出了答案。
「How was the sand-fixing grid invented?」 A visitor proposed the question that was wanted to be asked by all. 「It is quite a contingency actually,」 answered the guide.
但是怎樣的一個偶然成就了這段傳奇，講解員卻並沒有急著解答，而是從歷史深處探究了治沙的初始。
The guide, however, did not explain immediately, but started with the beginning of desertification control in history.
追溯沙坡頭的治沙史，要從1950年說起。當年10月，中衛固沙林場在騰格里沙漠東南前沿正式建立。這是國內最早的、以防沙造林為目的而建造的國有專業林場。
It could be dated back to 1950. In October of that year, Zhongwei Sand Fixing Forest Farm was officially established on the southeast frontier of the Tengger Desert. It is the earliest state-owned forest farm in China dedicated for sand prevention and afforestation.
正是從那年起，沙坡頭經歷了從荒漠到綠洲的巨變，這樣的巨變是靠時間和經驗壘出來的。
It was from that year that Shapotou experienced the huge change from a desert to an oasis, thanks to people’s long-term efforts and experience.
1951年4月，從中國林業大學幹部專修班畢業的張宗朗毅然來到寧夏，在9次進出沙漠中，他與同事最早發現並培育出了花棒、檸條等被稱為「治沙先鋒」的旱生樹種，為沙坡頭生物治沙奠定了基礎，至今仍舊運用於治沙之中。
In April 1951, Zhang Zonglang, a graduate from the cadre program at China Forestry University, came to Ningxia resolutely and determinedly. Zhang and his colleagues were the first to discover and cultivate xerophytes, known as 「desertification control pioneers」, such as scoparium and caragana microphylla, after nine visits to the desert. They laid the foundation for desertification control in biological way in Shapotou, and the way is still used in desertification control today.
然而，在固沙治沙初期，因自然環境異常惡劣，植物固沙行不通，林場還嘗試過卵石鋪面、瀝青拌沙、草蓆鋪面等固沙方式，但一陣大風過後，這些措施就被掩埋殆盡。
In the early stage, other ways of sand fixing were tried in the farm, such as pebble paving, asphalt mixing and straw mat paving, because plants did not work under the extremely harsh condition. Unfortunately, all failed after the gale blowing.
時間流逝，1957年春很快到來，這一年，中國第一條沙漠鐵路——包蘭鐵路進入沙坡頭施工段。在中衛境內6次穿越沙漠的包蘭鐵路，沿途沙丘裸露，植被覆蓋率極低，幹沙層厚達10釐米至15釐米。曾有國外專家預言：包蘭鐵路「存活」不了30年就會被沙漠淹沒。
As time went by, the spring of 1957 witnessed the construction of Shapotou section of Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, China’s first desert railway. Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, which traverses the desert six times in Zhongwei, is flanked by sand dunes with extremely low vegetation coverage. The dry sand is 10-15cm thick. Some foreign experts predicted that Baotou-Lanzhou Railway would be covered by sand within 30 years.
一列行駛在包蘭鐵路上的火車經過中衛沙坡頭地區（圖 新華社）
「要治沙、先固沙」這是治沙人的共識，在包蘭鐵路的建設中，如何固沙成了一項重要工作。在此之前，林場職工和科研人員共同嘗試了平鋪式沙障試驗，但效果並不理想。一天，正在休息的職工隨手撿起了駝隊落下的一捆麥草，插進沙裡。大風過後，其他一同種下的植物悉數被黃沙吞噬，唯獨這捆麥草堅強地挺立在沙丘之上。過後沒多久，林場職工便在沙漠中紮下「人定勝天」「中衛固沙林場」等字樣，風暴過後，意外發現幾個字當中，方塊形的字沒有被沙子埋沒。受到啟發的職工們開始嘗試用麥草扎出圓形、三角形、馬蹄形……試驗證明，1米見方的麥草方格固沙效果最好。
It is the consensus that sand should be fixed first before desertification control. During the railway construction, how to fix sand became an important task. Before that, employees and scientific researchers of the forest farm jointly did the flat sand barrier experiments, yet with unsatisfactory results. One day, employees at rest picked up a bundle of wheat straw that a camel team had dropped, and inserted it into the sand. All other plants were blown away by a gale except this bundle. Not long after that, those employees used wheat straw to form such Chinese words in the desert as 「man can conquer nature」 and 「Zhongwei Sand-fixing Forest Farm.」 After a windstorm, they found that only the square ones were not buried by sand. They were inspired and tried making round, triangle and horseshoe shaped bundles with wheat straw. It turned out that the sand fixation effect of the wheat straw grid that was one square meter large was the best.
當講解員講完這段故事，大家才明白兩次無心插柳成就了「麥草方格固沙法」，成功阻擋了流沙的腳步，也保證了沙漠鐵路上鋼鐵巨龍60餘年的平安呼嘯。
Visitors now understood from the guide that the method indeed came out from two contingencies. It has helped control the drift sand and ensured the normal operation of trains on the desert railway for over 60 years.
「1977年，在聯合國全球沙漠化會議上，中國代表被請上講壇介紹『麥草方格固沙法』，目前這種方法也在世界上被廣泛推廣和應用。」在中衛土生土長的講解員特意提起了「中國魔方」的世界亮相，「治沙是世界性的難題，但我們這裡有了這項世界級的發明。」
「In 1977, a Chinese representative was invited to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and made introduction to the 『crisscrossing lines of wheat straw.』 It is now widely promoted and applied all over the world.」 The guide who was born and raised in Zhongwei mentioned the debut of the magic designs by China, 「desertification control is a worldwide problem, but we made this world-class invention.」
據統計，60多年來，中衛固沙林場職工扎設半隱蔽式格狀草50萬公畝，培育沙生植物1億多株，在騰格里沙漠植樹造林253.5萬多畝，建設林區面積56612.4畝。
According to statistics, employees of the farm in Zhongwei has planted 5,000 hectares of semi-concealed crisscrossing lines of grass, cultivated more than 100 million psammophytes, planted more than 2.535 million mu ha of trees in the Tengger Desert, and built a forest area of 56612.4 mu for the past 60 years.
正是有了這些年的累積，如今走進沙坡頭景區，處處綠植讓人忘卻了騰格里的存在，更讓人領略到這裡集大漠、黃河、高山、綠洲為一體的美景。體驗中國最大的天然滑沙場，騎駱駝穿越騰格里沙漠，乘越野車沙海奔馳……享受人與自然的和諧共生之美。
Thanks to that, visitors in Shapotou Scenic Area today can see green plants everywhere and even forget the existence of the Tengger Desert. Visitors may enjoy the beautiful landscapes of the desert, the Yellow River, mountains and oases, and have fun in the largest natural sand skiing resort in China. They are also allowed to ride a camel cross the Tengger Desert or take an off-road vehicle through the desert, so as to feel the harmonious co-existence of man with nature.
麥草方格固沙並不是一朝一夕的事，展廳的資料牆上寫滿了幾代治沙人的艱辛歲月，「用鐵鍬把乾草深扎到沙粒中，組成一個個1米×1米的正方形十字網格。再把網格中央的沙子分別推到乾草周圍，對麥草方格進行加固。在乾草附近撒上草籽，等下了雨慢慢地就會長出更多沙生植物。」寥寥數語總結出了方格固沙的原理，卻寫不盡治沙人付出的艱辛。
The crisscrossing lines of wheat straw for sand fixation were not created overnight. The great efforts of generations for desertification control are displayed on the information wall of the exhibition hall. 「They inserted the dry straw into sand with spades to form square grids one meter long on each side. Then they pushed the sand in the center of the grids toward the dry straw to reinforce the grids. Grass seeds were scattered near the dry straw, and psammophytes would grow out when it rained.」 The principle was illustrated in a few words, but the great efforts were beyond description.
每當夏天，在四五十度的高溫下，林場工人一格一格地紮下乾草，這一紮就是幾十年。如今，包蘭鐵路兩側長滿了植被，鐵路基本擺脫了流沙的威脅，而更多地區對方格的運用也極大地阻止了騰格里沙漠的繼續擴張。
Employees insert the dry straw under high temperatures of 40-50°C every summer, which has lasted for decades. Now plants are overgrown on both sides of Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, which is no longer threatened by drift sand. The use of such grids in more regions has slowed down the expansion of the Tengger Desert.
沙坡頭誕生的絕不僅僅只有「中國魔方」，在這片土地上，治沙從未停下過腳步：
Shapotou witnessed not only the magic designs by China, but also unceasing efforts to control desertification:
1967年固沙林場開始興修水利，在半流動沙丘地帶找水澆地，還建起了試驗性質的果園，為寧夏乃至中國三北乾旱沙漠地區引水治沙樹立了成功的樣板；
In 1967, water conservancy projects were initiated on the sand-fixing forest farm. Irrigable lands were reclaimed around the semi-mobile sand dunes, and experimental orchards built, which set a successful model for water diversion and desertification control in Ningxia and even the Three-North desert areas in China.
20世紀70年代初期，林場又啟動了引黃提水治沙工程，把黃河水引上100多米高的流動沙嶺；用機械和人力削平上萬座沙丘；把樟子松、國槐、紅柳、沙棘等種在沙丘上……
In the early 1970s, the Yellow River water diversion and desertification control project was launched on the farm. The Yellow River water was drawn to the mobile sand ridge more than 100 meters high, the top of tens of thousands of sand dunes flattened with machinery and manpower, and plants like pinus sylvestris, Chinese scholartree, rose willow and sea-buckthorn planted on the sand dunes.
到20世紀90年代初，騰格里沙漠前沿建起了一個由固沙防火帶、灌溉造林帶、草障植物帶、前沿阻沙帶、封沙育草帶組成的「五帶一體」治沙防護體系，取得了鐵路治沙的標誌性成果，徹底實現了「沙退人進」的偉大壯舉。
By the early 1990s, a desertification control and protection system consisting of a sand-fixing and fire prevention belt, irrigation and afforestation belt, grass barrier and plant belt, frontier sand blocking belt, and sand-sealing and grass-cultivating belt was built in the front of the Tengger Desert. The system is a landmark of desertification control for the railway, and symbolizes the feat of 「sand retreating and people advancing.」
如今，固沙林場的技術人員又創造了足以改寫固沙歷史的技術，他們發現麥草腐化後，能夠形成沙結皮。在對沙結皮的形成進行深入研究、反覆試驗的基礎上，技術員們發明了「利用黏土（綠洲耕作土）壓沙製作人工沙結皮」的新技術，充分利用黏土遇水後快速產生結皮的特點，把固沙技術又向前推進了一大步，成為繼「麥草方格」之後的固沙新方式。
Now the technicians of the farm have created the technology that can rewrite the history of sand-fixing. They discovered that when the wheat straw rots, it can form the sandy crust. With in-depth research and repeated experiments on the formation of sandy crusts, technicians invented the new technology of 「using clay to press sand (cultivated soil on oasis) and making artificial sandy crusts」 given that the sandy crusts will be quickly formed when the clay meets water. The sand fixation technology was thus promoted further and became a new way following the 「wheat straw grid.」
走出博物館，清風送來秋日涼爽，不遠處的天然滑沙場已經飄蕩著遊人的歡呼。跟隨人流爬上沙坡，向後眺望，騰格里沙漠向遠處延伸，看不到邊際；轉頭向下望去，黃河之水仍舊不知疲倦地奔流而去，兩岸柳樹成蔭、隨風舞動，好似用綠意寫下一首與黃沙和鳴、與自然共舞的詩篇。
Walking out of the museum, visitors felt the cool breeze on that autumn morning. The natural sand skiing resort not far away was already filled with cheers of tourists. Climbing up the sand slope with the crowd and looking backward, one may see that the Tengger Desert spreads far into the distance.The Yellow River water below still rushed tirelessly, and the willow trees on both sides of the bank danced with the wind, which constituted a poem about harmony between the yellow sand and nature in green.