"Northern wilderness transformed into grain basket on Mao's orders" from South China Morning Post

"The fertile black-earth plains of the northeast, China's most important grain-producing belt, turn golden yellow in autumn, a broad sweep of rice paddies and farmland stretching on towards the horizon.

But half a century ago, the vast expanse of Heilongjiang land, bordering Siberia, was covered by marshes and known as Beidahuang, the Great Northern Wilderness."