China wants to turn Xinjiang’s vast deserts into a string of pearls

Millions of pearls are already being harvested in the Taklimakan Desert, as China tries to turn the arid region into a hub for aquaculture

Reading Time:2 minutes

Chinese companies are using the saline lakes dotted across the Talkimakan Desert to harvest pearl oysters and other marine wildlife. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 5:45pm, 29 Nov 2024

Millions of pearls are being artificially cultivated in the deserts of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, as China pushes forward with an ambitious plan to turn the arid region into a hub for aquaculture.

The pearl farming project was first launched in 2022, but only recently attracted public attention in China when a video of a local farmer showing off a fistful of pearls went viral on social media, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Chinese authorities have been encouraging private investment in aquaculture across China’s northwestern provinces since 2017, with companies using innovative techniques to convert the water inside the region’s saline-alkaline lakes into artificial seawater.

Salmon, lobster, shrimp and tilapia are already being farmed on an industrial scale in lakes dotted across the Taklimakan Desert – a vast desert in Xinjiang known as the “Sea of Death” – and “produced in Xinjiang” seafood is being used by restaurants in many Chinese cities.

Now, efforts are under way to harvest pearls in the area. Investors from southern China have reportedly established a seafood breeding base in Qiemo county – in the heart of the Taklimakan – using micro-organisms to transform a local saline lake into a usable water source.