--FILE -- un agricoltore cinese aziona il suo trattore per asciugare il risone nel sobborgo della città di Jixi nella regione di Beidahuang (Bei da Huang), noto come il Grea
--FILE--A Chinese farmer drives his tractor to dry paddy rice in the suburb of Jixi city in the region of Beidahuang (Bei Da Huang), known as the Great Northern Wilderness, in northeast Chinas Heilongjiang province, 30 August 2008. After 60 years of development, a once remote and desolate land has been transformed into a strategic base of Chinas grain production. In northeast Chinas Heilongjiang Province, there is a region known as the Great Northern Wilderness. Rich in natural resources, Beidahuang, as it is formally known, once attracted numerous prospectors in a Chinese gold rush. Ancient Chinese emperors yearned to develop the land there, and, in the first half of last century, Japanese occupiers brought 300, 000 immigrants to settle the region with similar goals in mind. Yet many years passed and the region remained wilderness. Since 1947, the wilderness has gradually changed. Around 100, 000 retired service people and hundreds of thousands of civilian youths met the call by the Chinese Government to resettle this land. Since then Beidahuang has become the bread basket of China. It is now the countrys largest soybean producing area and one of the major producers of rice and wheat. The region currently accounts for nearly a quarter of the countrys total non-original grain supplies. In 2006, its grain production capacity and commodity grain output reached 11.32 billion kg and 10 billion kg, respectively.
