"Biggest forests spared the chop" from South China Morning Post

"HEILONGJIANG - China will stop chopping down trees in the Daxinganling and Xiaoxinganling forests, the country's biggest forests, on the borders with Russia and North Korea, for the next 10 years, Xinhua reports. The two forests cover half million square kilometres with nearly 10 million people, many of whom work in the forest industry."

"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."