[1958 June 16 [1958 May 13], “Rain in Desert Speeds Tracklaying Near Chung-wei”, in Weekly Information Report on Communist China, number 212, Central Intelligence Agency, sourced from Peiping, Kung-jen Jih-pao, p 1, translation of original in Chinese, →OCLC, Economic, page 36:
Tracklaying on the south section of the Pao-t'ou--Lan-chou Railway has been forging ahead across the 20-kilometers broad strip of the T'eng-ku-li desert despite unfavorable natural conditions. On 10 May the track- laying crew reached Sha-p'o-t'ou the highest point of the sea of shifting sand dunes, in the course of an extremely rare rainfall. This was so refreshing that the tracklaying proceeded at the rate of 5 kilometers per day, and by nightfall the tracks had reached a point less than 20 kilometers south of the city of Chung-wei.]
The longest stretch of uninterrupted desertland it traverses, 16 kilometres, is in Shapotou of Chungwei County in the southeastern Tyngeri Desert. It is an area of sand dunes where the climate is dry and there are frequent strong winds.
At Zhongwei we disembarked to visit a place named Shapotou, which means "at the head of a sandy slope." The name describes the location, the edge of the Tengger, a shamo where dunes creep along the foothills of the Xiangshan, an east-west mountain range.
1995, Land Degradation and Desertification in Asia and the Pacific Region[4], →OCLC, page 279:
Shapotou District is located on the southeast periphery of the Tengger Desert, bordering the Yellow River, with annual precipitation averaging 180 mm.
2018 June 22, “Shapotou Curbs Desertification by Making Straw Checkerboard Sand Barriers”, in Chen Na, editor, Chinese Academy of Sciences[5], archived from the original on 21 July 2022[6]:
Zhang Zhishan, deputy chief of the Shapotou desert research and testing station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, checks the cyanobacteria breeding pool in a greenhouse in the Shapotou District of Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, May 30, 2018. Shapotou, whose name was derived from high sand dunes, is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. For half a century, Shapotou is renowned for curbing desertification by mainly making straw checkerboard sand barriers in large scale.
2022 July 26, “Across China: Northwest sends more green electricity to power-hungry east”, in huaxia, editor, Xinhua News Agency[7], archived from the original on 26 July 2022[8]:
Ma Yuhui gets up early in the morning these days to check the safety condition of power towers in a desert area in Shapotou District of Zhongwei City in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
