Towering sand dunes loom over the ancient Chinese city of Dunhuang like giant waves about to break, and they are already lapping at Ma Wangzhen's onion farm.
She points a rough finger at a line of dead trees, half-buried in sand, planted years ago as part of her 20-year losing battle to halt the once-distant dunes which now threaten to spill into her onion crop.
"It moves very fast, much faster than anything I can do to stop it," said Ma, 60.
Ma is on the front lines of a national struggle against a relentless foe: desertification.
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