Amid the vast expanse of the Taklamakan Desert, a couple is part of the quiet force maintaining water stations along the Tarim Desert Highway, helping to green Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The highway cuts across the Taklamakan, the world's second-largest shifting desert. To protect the 522-kilometer road from encroaching sand, a 75-meter-wide greenbelt of drought-resistant plants, including Haloxylon ammodendron and Calligonum mongolicum, stretches along both sides. Water stations keep this belt alive.

At the fourth station, 58-year-old Huang Maotao and her husband, Li Wei, are in charge. They were not born here, but they now call the desert home.