Professor Liu Yansui's pioneering geographical engineering achievements have been featured on National Memory (Guojia Jiyi), the flagship historical documentary program of China Central Television (CCTV). The program highlights the team's extensive work on gully land consolidation in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province — a transformative project that has become a quintessential case of geographical engineering serving China's national strategic needs.
National Memory, a key innovative program of CCTV, is dedicated to "preserving history for the nation, recording memory for the people, and establishing legacies for distinguished figures," documenting major historical events and significant national engineering accomplishments. The program's recognition of Professor Liu's work affirms that geographical engineering has become a critical pillar of China's rural revitalization and food security strategies.
The Yan'an Gully Land Consolidation Project: A Monumental Undertaking
From 2012 to 2013, Professor Liu Yansui — a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and Director of the Faculty of Geographical Science and Engineering at Henan University — led the Shaanxi Yan'an Gully Land Consolidation Project, a major land remediation initiative supported by the central government. The project, approved with a total investment of 4.832 billion yuan (including 4.096 billion yuan from central funds), planned the construction of 506,000 mu (approximately 33,700 hectares) of farmland. The implementation period spanned from 2013 to 2017.
The project was executed by a multidisciplinary team led by Professor Liu, with researchers Chen Yufu and Long Hualou serving as deputy leaders, Wang Jieyong and Yang Ren responsible for planning and mapping, and Li Yurui overseeing engineering design. The team's regional agriculture and rural development innovation group proposed the project and provided comprehensive support from proposal and feasibility study through planning, design, budgeting, and implementation.
Engineering Innovation in the Loess Plateau
Yan'an, situated in the heart of the Loess Plateau, has long been characterized by fragmented terrain and severe gully erosion — a landscape that historically made large-scale agriculture nearly impossible. The gully land consolidation project addressed this challenge through a systematic approach that coordinated gully-channel and slope systems.
Rather than relying on conventional methods, the team employed a scientific "soil prescription and formulation" approach. Old loess was used as the base layer, with Malan loess applied as the topsoil surface. Thousands upon thousands of cubic meters of loess were broken down, recombined, and reconstructed to create soil with enhanced fertility, aeration, and water retention capacity. The result transformed previously barren gully land into productive farmland — "land with vitality" that gives farmers hope for a better future.
The project embodied the principle of "forest restoration on the hills above, gully consolidation and farmland creation below," shifting from extensive, low-yield cultivation to a virtuous cycle of intensive, high-yield farming. By 2018, the project had been fully completed, adding 117,700 mu (approximately 7,800 hectares) of new cultivated land — creating the most stable "grain ration fields" on the plateau and lifting millions of farmers out of poverty.
"Gully consolidation is not just land reclamation — it is a revolution in modern agriculture in Yan'an, a continuation of the Yan'an spirit, and a concrete action in practicing the philosophy that 'lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.'"