Every October, numerous photography lovers trek into the desert on the western edge of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to see the autumn hues of the poplar forests. Some 60 kilometers near the China-Mongolia border, the forests contain the only trees that can survive the arid weather and sterile soil. They mostly grow by the Heihe River, a desert oasis, on a 115,000-square-kilometer area where 10,000 people reside. Diversifolious poplar trees have been dubbed as one of the earth's few "living fossils." Locals describe their longevity by saying that the poplar trees can live for 1,000 years and after they die, they will stand for another thousand years before falling; yet, it takes another thousand years for their trunks to decompose. The forest in Inner Mongolia is one of the world's three remaining areas of diversifolious poplars, which makes it very popular among Chinese naturalists, photographers and tourists. [China.org.cn]

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