Shapotou lies west of Zhongwei in Ningxia, where the dunes of the Tengger Desert run down to the Yellow River. It is known for its high sand slope, for the Yellow River sheepskin rafts, and above all for the straw-checkerboard method of fixing shifting sand developed here from the 1950s to protect the Baotou–Lanzhou railway, which made it a reference site for desert control worldwide.
- National nature reserve (Shapotou)
Key facts
Overview
At Shapotou the Yellow River, flowing east out of the gorges of Gansu, swings along the south-eastern edge of the Tengger Desert. On one bank lie the tall dunes of the desert, on the other the irrigated fields and orchards of the Ningxia plain, so that desert, river, oasis and mountains can be seen together from the top of the sand slope.
When the Baotou–Lanzhou railway was built in the 1950s, it had to cross this belt of moving dunes. Scientists and railway workers stabilised the sand with grids of straw pressed into the dunes, planted drought-tolerant shrubs inside them, and created a protective belt along the line that has kept the railway open since 1958. The experimental station at Shapotou became one of the main centres of Chinese desert research.
How the landscape formed
The Tengger is a sand desert of the Alashan Plateau, with dunes up to about 100 metres high driven south-east by the prevailing north-westerly winds. At Shapotou the dunes pile up against the river terrace and form a slope about 100 metres high above the water. The Yellow River here enters the Ningxia plain after leaving the Heishan gorge, and its irrigation canals, first dug more than two thousand years ago, turned the plain into farmland. The straw checkerboards work by roughening the surface and slowing the wind at ground level, so that sand stops moving and a thin crust of mosses, lichens and algae can form.
Highlights
Straw checkerboards
麦草方格
Grids of wheat or rice straw, about one metre square, pressed into the dunes to fix the sand; developed here and copied across the world's deserts.
Sheepskin rafts
羊皮筏子
Traditional rafts of inflated sheepskins lashed to a wooden frame, still used to carry visitors on the Yellow River.
Singing sand
鸣沙
The sand slope booms when people slide down it, counted among the classic views of Ningxia as “the bell ringing on the sand slope” (沙坡鸣钟).
Yellow River bend
黄河
The river curving between dunes and green fields below the slope.
Plants and wildlife
The reserve protects the desert ecosystem and the sand-fixation plantations that have allowed a thin cover of shrubs, grasses and soil crust to form on once-moving dunes. It is also a long-term laboratory for how vegetation and soil develop in arid land.
Plants
Hedysarum scoparium
花棒
A flowering leguminous shrub planted to fix sand.
Caragana
柠条
Drought-tolerant pea shrubs used in the protective belts.
Sand sagebrush
沙蒿
Artemisia species that colonise stabilised dunes.
Wildlife
Toad-headed agamas
沙蜥
Small lizards of the sand surface.
Jerboas
跳鼠
Nocturnal jumping rodents of the desert.
Culture and legend
The Yellow River at Zhongwei was long crossed and travelled on sheepskin rafts, and the Ningxia plain's irrigation canals made it the “Jiangnan beyond the frontier” (塞上江南). In the modern era Shapotou became a symbol of the struggle against desertification: the railway protection belt and the research station drew scientists from around the world, and the station's sand-control work was placed on UNEP's Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1994.
Baotou–Lanzhou railway
包兰铁路
The line through the dunes whose protection gave rise to the sand-control methods.
Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station
沙坡头沙漠研究试验站
Field station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, founded in 1956.
Jiangnan beyond the frontier
塞上江南
The traditional name for the fertile irrigated Ningxia plain.
History
1956
Desert research station founded
The Chinese Academy of Sciences begins long-term sand-control research at Shapotou.
1958
Baotou–Lanzhou railway opens
Straw checkerboards and planted shrubs keep the line open across the Tengger dunes.
1994
Global 500 Roll of Honour
UNEP places the Shapotou sand-control work on its Global 500 Roll of Honour; the same year the reserve is raised to national level.
Through the seasons
Spring
Windy, with sandstorms possible in March and April.
Summer
Hot sand and strong sun by day, cool evenings; the busiest season for rafting and sand sports.
Autumn
The most comfortable season, with clear skies and gold poplars along the river.
Winter
Cold and dry, with ice along the river's edges; quiet and clear.
Routes and ways in
Sand slope and river
A walk from the top of the dunes down the sand slope to the river, with sheepskin rafts and boats on the Yellow River below.
Desert edge
Walks and camel rides into the Tengger along the edge of the protective belts, where the straw grids can be seen.
Practical notes
- Do not trample the straw grids or planted shrubs; they are the protective belt of the railway.
- Sun and heat on the sand are intense in summer; start early or late.
- Zhongwei, about 20 km to the east, is the base; it lies on the railway and has an airport.
Cities to start from
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Tengger Desert — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station — Chinese Academy of Sciences (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Shapotou — Wikipedia (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Zhongwei Municipal People's Government — Zhongwei Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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