In the evening, the wind seemed to pick up a little, and the vast Gobi looked gray and hazy.

"Dinner time! Dinner time! Today we're having beef soup with baked wheat cakes!" After a screech of brakes and the successive sounds of trunks opening, Hou Hongjun, deputy secretary of the project Party branch, opened the steaming insulated boxes while craning his neck and shouting loudly. Everyone gathered from all parts of the foundation pit to the "temporary dining hall"—beside the concrete mixer trucks—because here they could take a little shelter from the wind and sand.

Leaning, squatting, or sitting, everyone ate heartily. The steam of the meat soup mingled with their hearty laughter, driving away the cold of the Gobi. Since November, temperatures in Toksun County had gradually dropped, and the optimal construction window for foundation pouring had been shrinking. Concrete had to be poured continuously while ensuring acceptance inspections kept pace, so the young men of the technical department worked in two shifts, "nailed" to the site during peak pouring periods, and had not eaten in the project canteen for more than 20 days.

"The bowls in the canteen haven't been used for over 20 days."

The figures absent from the canteen are the silhouettes fighting on the construction site.

Deep in the Gobi in Toksun County, Xinjiang, construction is in full swing on the 1-million-kilowatt wind power project in Toksun County—the largest onshore wind power project invested, built, and operated as a whole by PowerChina. To smoothly achieve the project's construction goals, after careful planning and intense preparation, project staff ventured into the barren Gobi to jointly compose a green symphony on the Gobi desert.

The Gobi has a large temperature difference between day and night and a dry climate, so skin and lips chap easily. When asked whether they found the work hard, the technicians replied lightly: "Actually, we don't feel it's especially hard. Although the temperature difference in a day is like two seasons, when you're fully immersed in work, you simply have no time to think about it—your mind is only on how to complete the construction tasks efficiently and with high quality." Their half-joking, understated words glossed over those harsh conditions. No matter what difficulties they encountered, their optimism and determination never changed.

Because some wind turbine foundations are inherently far apart, and it takes at least half an hour to drive from the project department to the site, to reduce time lost on the road and ensure that all pouring and acceptance inspection steps are closely linked, personnel running the site basically took all three meals on site. "'Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.' If you yourself are slack and unwilling to do something, others won't have any drive either." This is not just a slogan shouted about; the young people of the Technical Quality Department interpret these words through concrete action, thinking together with frontline workers and fighting alongside them, and shared goals naturally became one.

For a period, they did not use the bowls in the canteen for more than 20 consecutive days, but the belief in everyone's hearts never changed—to strive to create a model of quality engineering. To ensure frontline construction workers could eat with confidence and comfort, the office communicated with the canteen in advance, refined and quantified the meal needs of each construction work face, and improved meal quality. The daily "Gobi long-distance takeout" spanning dozens of kilometers not only delivered hot meals to the construction site but also delivered the warmth and care of "home" into the workers' hands.

"Walking into this barren land with a mission"

Only because the mission is in their hearts, the Gobi is no longer barren.

As an important political project of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the No. 1 project of PowerChina New Energy Group in 2024, it carries great responsibility and significance. Everyone dared not slacken for a moment and, on the premise of ensuring safety and quality, strove to build a high-quality project, an excellent project, and a benchmark project.

"No birds fly in the sky, no grass grows on the ground, and stones run all over the ground when the wind blows." This is the most vivid portrayal of local windy weather. At the construction site, when fierce winds rage and dust blots out the sun, car windshields may even be shattered, and the paint on vehicle bodies is often scraped off by wind and sand. To build a wind power project on the Gobi, the difficulties are hard to imagine.

They tackled the hardest tasks while aiming for the farthest goals. To ensure the smooth pouring of 55 wind turbine foundations, the project team began careful preparations early. From repeated demonstration of construction plans to strict screening and adequate stocking of raw materials at the commercial concrete station, every step was infused with countless efforts and wisdom. "Not a single staff member of the project department backed down. In the face of difficulties, the project team unleashed strong cohesion and fighting strength, fearing no challenges and rising to them, interpreting responsibility through action!" said Liu Yaning, executive deputy project manager—this is everyone's creed. Wearing sand-proof masks thoughtfully prepared by the project department, they started their 15-to-16-hour daily formwork monitoring and acceptance inspections right on time before sunrise.

"Our faith is simple: do the job well."

The faith is simple, but the determination to do the job well is not simple.

From acceptance inspection before cushion pouring after foundation pit excavation, to meticulous checks of anchor cage rings and foundation rebar, and then to acceptance inspection before anti-corrosion coating after the curing period and grounding acceptance, their requirements for every step were almost stringent, strictly controlling quality and striving to ensure every step was accurate and error-free.

Under a starry night sky, at a foundation pit pouring site, dozens of concrete mixer trucks shuttled back and forth, and three concrete pump trucks extended their giant arms and started pumping simultaneously, continuously delivering concrete to the foundation. The sound of continuous vibration broke the silence of the night. Holding their posts day and night, they feared no重重 difficulties—whether the fatigue of late night or the raging bone-chilling wind, they never flinched. When project manager Pan Longlong spoke of the project's young people, he said: "Everyone can endure hardship. Although wind power projects move fast, the belief in securing the market through on-site performance and turning the Xinjiang market position into a base has always been firmly kept in everyone's hearts, and so all our efforts feel meaningful."

Darkened skin, chapped lips, cheeks splashed with concrete, bodies shivering in military coats, and resolute eyes—all silently tell this story of "battle."

You say wind and sand are not good to eat, but once you head to the Gobi, you never look back. When one wind turbine foundation after another was successfully poured, project staff could hardly contain their excitement. All the hardships were laughed off; having tasted all the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy, only a sweet aftertaste remained. Tempered by difficulties, they ultimately forged their own path of striving.

Dining in the field

Project staff

Concrete mixer trucks under the night sky