For thousands of years, the sediment-rich Yellow River
has underpinned the prosperity of the Chinese heartland.
But increased demand for water by people and industry
now threaten to run the river dry.
And the source of its fertility, the Loess Plateau, is also under threat.
Loosened by cultivation, its soft soil is blowing away.
The North China Plain is choked with dust storms
that even loom over Beijing
so much so that the Chinese government has made improving the city's air quality a priority
in the run up to the Beijing Olympics.
Heartland China's life-support system is in trouble.
Yet in a few places it's still possible to find landscapes that appear to have remained untouched.
[00:02.82]For thousands of years, the sediment-rich Yellow River
[00:06.02]has underpinned the prosperity of the Chinese heartland.
[00:09.80]But increased demand for water by people and industry
[00:13.25]now threaten to run the river dry.
[00:30.70]And the source of its fertility, the Loess Plateau, is also under threat.
[00:36.31]Loosened by cultivation, its soft soil is blowing away.
[00:50.57]The North China Plain is choked with dust storms
[00:53.48]that even loom over Beijing
[00:56.28]so much so that the Chinese government has made improving the city's air quality a priority
[01:02.39]in the run up to the Beijing Olympics.
[01:06.62]Heartland China's life-support system is in trouble.
[01:10.92]Yet in a few places it's still possible to find landscapes that appear to have remained untouched.