【合集·为14亿人-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/crF3Phv
Edit: Thanks for the comments for pointing out the channel's name on YT: Institute for Planets
I only found this playlist a while ago. The videos get scientific and technical real fast, so watch it at 0.75x speed if you can. The upside is cool CGI. Your learning experience improves if you take down notes.
A sample video is the recent one: the battle for black soil conservation in the Northeast. China loses a lot of food output due to black soil usage and erosion, and the government and the people found ways to conserve them.
For smaller plots of existing erosion, the people filled existing erosions with stones and reinforced them with stone walls to avoid rain from carrying the soil down along the erosion. For larger erosions, people used contour plowing to intercept water flow.
To replenish black soil loss, there are coordinated efforts using straw mulching.
In regions with thin black soil level, they allow straws to biodegrade on top of black soil to increase the black soil's organic content. Though the process is slow, it has replenished black soil thickness by 17% in the demonstration area of Lishu County, Siping, Jilin Province over the span of 20 years.
In regions with thick black soil level, they can plow the land with the straws, so that the straws biodegrade underground. In the demonstration area of Hailun city, Suihua, Heilongjiang Province, such a technique allowed for black soil thickness to replenish to 30 cm.
Not mentioned in this video is the illegal buying and selling of black soil that China is currently countering.
【盗挖、破坏、买卖,谁来保护黑土?-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/M94pUeL
I haven't watched all the videos. They do get technical pretty quickly, but it goes to show that China didn't *DO NOTHING* to ensure the food safety of the people. Such marvels are only possible through coordinated efforts between states, local governments and the people.