ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the project of building Sanqingqu Canal and Sanqingwan state farmland, and clarifies historical knowledge and the response to desertification. In the background of agricultural development in the Hexi Corridor in the eighteenth century, the Qing government's political motives aimed to break down the Zhungars and establish their influence in the Zhungar and Ili basins. Agricultural development was promoted in such a manner as to establish state farms. Nine areas of state farms were established; they were Jiujiayao, SanqingwanRouyuanbao, Maomucheng, Shuangshudun Jiuba, Pingchuanbao, Liulinhu and Changninghu. These were all located at the peripher ies of the oases, and the government tried to develop these barren lands by building irrigation channels. One area, namely Sanqingwan, was located in the south of the Gaotai district, which was in the center of the Gansu Province along the Heihe River and at the end of an alluvial fan at the foot of Mt. Qilian.
