Published: 9:00pm, 29 Oct, 2017 Updated: 2:55pm, 20 Jul, 2018
China is developing plans to build the world 's longest tunnel to turn a desert in Xinjiang " into California " . Engineers are testing ways of building a 1,000 km tunnel to bring water from Tibet to the Taklimakan desert . The project is likely to cause protests by environmentalists but its implementation will be difficult for policymakers to resist , said Zhang ##ao of the Chinese Academy of Science ' Institute of Water and Soil Mechanics in Wuhan . He said the water shortage in Xinjiang was similar to that of California before a water diversion project turned the state into a rich agricultural area .