The last family living in this oasis. The other remaining family recently gave up to move out of the desert. For eight generations Mage-erle's family has lived in this mudbrick house within a grassland that has been ringed in by a sea of sand. She and her son, Jinbao, are the last family living in this shrinking island of steppe grassland. Plans are afoot, she says, to build a desert golf resort on what remains of her pastureland. Alashan Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China.