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 has been criticised by human rights groups and environmentalists who say it will damage wildlife habitats and threaten China's fragile environment. 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.