Taklamakan Desert to regard the Taklamakan Desert as separate and independent from the Gobi Desert region to its east. The People's Republic of China has constructed two cross-desert highways. The Tarim Desert Highway links the cities of Hotan (on the southern edge) and Luntai (on the northern edge), and the Bayingol to Ruoqiang road crosses the desert to the east. In recent years, the desert has expanded in some areas, its sands enveloping farms and villages as a result of desertification. The Golmud-Korla Railway (presently, under construction; expected completion time, 2019) will cross the Taklamakan as well. Because it lies in the
Story in the Public Square courage and to see the resilience and to see the dignity that some of the people that have gone through hell on earth, still can look you in the eye and want you to tell their story. Even though they know that they are not going to gain anything out of it and most likely none of their entire family, or clan or neighborhood, or city or country. But they still want to tell you their story. You still have to tell their story." On January 14, 2017, Story in the Public Square launched a new weekly PBS and SiriusXM