Treasures that make the Taklimakan tick

Visitors learn that wild and domestic camels diverged 800,000 years ago. Fewer than 1,000 wild camels remain today, making them rarer than giant pandas.

Many have found it fascinating that these wild camels' oval red blood cells keep flowing even in extreme dehydration, and their specialized coats deflect the desert's searing heat, Guo says.

Nearby, a massive dune-shaped installation teems with hand-drawn, meticulously detailed life.

Tarim hares and foxes use oversized ears to radiate heat. Desert beetles have fused wing covers that function like personal "air conditioners", capturing exhaled moisture. Long-eared jerboas are the desert's "jumping stars", while great gerbils, or "desert rats", build sprawling underground cities with distinct quarters for sleeping and storage.

"We've added interactive elements throughout," Guo notes, adding that 30 scientific models are on display.

The nature center's staff expect visitors to find the most delightful surprise in the Shifting Dunes section, where six classic dune types, ranging from crescent and linear to parabolic, transverse and dome, have been reimagined as sculptural "little cakes" displayed in jewel cases.

The nature center also weaves in human stories in a colorful reconstructed Oasis Dwellers area that re-creates domestic life along the desert's edge.

Patterns of almonds, pomegranates and grapevines bloom on fabric stamped by traditional wooden molds. Local distinctive Atlas silk shimmers, while four traditional housing models, such as the wind-resistant Ayiwan (a square, protruding-top structure), depict daily life.

Recordings of the Muqam suite fill the air, featuring eight instruments. An interactive backdrop invites visitors to "join" the ensemble, reaching through cutouts to strum a dutar, a two-stringed lute that is characterized by its long neck and pear-shaped body, alongside illustrated musicians.

The Way of Survival chapter then turns to the wisdom of coexistence between people and the desert.

"The 'Alar Miracle' section shows how the local residents created agricultural miracles on the Gobi Desert, ingeniously using saline-alkali water to cultivate 'inland seafood'," Guo says.

Seventy years ago, though this area was barren, locals managed to grow cotton and farm blue crabs and prawns to ship across China.

"The people here didn't just endure. They created beauty, music and poetry," she notes.

The final section, Desert Arteries, celebrates the roads and railways that now traverse the sands. It exposes visitors to the challenges in building those engineering marvels on shifting dunes and defending against relentless erosion.

The exhibition's showstopper is the Green Belt display, one of humanity's longest-running desert-containment projects. Over 46 years, multiple generations have built a 3,046-kilometer-long green belt around the Taklimakan. Satellite imagery shows the once-barren land now encircled by green.

Visitors can literally touch the belt. A strip of Xinjiang long-staple cotton invites handling, and they can stamp a card with images of the plants that made it possible — poplar, saxaul, tamarisk, and calligonum.

"Put on the green scarf, and feel the desert's embrace," the display says.