Li Lixin, the head of the desert highway project execution o

CHINA - OCTOBER 18: Li Lixin, the head of the desert highway project execution office under the Xinjiang government, points a map where the second desert highway under construction is drawn, in the Taklamakan desert near Hetian, Xinjiang province, China, Friday, October 13, 2006. China, the world's fastest growing economy, is building the second main highway in the Taklamakan desert, to improve the economy of northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which accounts for 1/6 of the country's total size. (Photo by Lucas Schifres/Bloomberg via Getty Images)