TAKLAMAKAN, CHINA - JUNE 16: Trucks line up with sand for the construction of the nearly completed Taklamakan desert highway on June 16, 2007 in Taklamakan Desert, China. The highway connects Aksu and Hetian of a distance of about 450 kilometers. The southern Silk Road route began in DunHuang and continued through the Taklamakan desert and to Khotan and Kashgar in the west. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson)..