Digger digging into a former lake bed near Dongsheng an area known as Hong Hai Zai. The lake's waters used to harbour many fish, caught and sold at market by the locals. It finally dried up completely in 1999, leaving a baked landscape on which a few hardy plants now grow. Climate change modelling shows that Northern China is going to get significantly drier leading to crop failure and desertification which is already happening in many places. Inner Mongolia has been particularly badly hit with ever drier conditions and creeping desertification.