Sam Dirien

@demurien

#FX #Strat #NoRecs

Joined October 2009

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demurien retweeted

Zhai Xiang

@ZhaiXiang5

about 1 month ago

More than two decades ago, an American teacher gave 5,000 USD to a Chinese woman he barely knew. She planted it into the sand. Tree by tree, year by year, she turned one act of kindness into more than 50,000 living trees. Now, deep in the Mu Us Desert (毛乌素沙漠/沙地) of Ordos (鄂尔多斯), Inner Mongolia, 60-year-old Yin Yuzhen (殷玉珍), a nationally celebrated "desert-control hero," stood in a boundless sea of trees. It is hard to imagine that this place was a barren wasteland of windblown sand where almost nothing could grow. Facing the camera, she delivered a simple but powerful message: "Hello, Mr. Sakolsky. If you can see this video, I would like to invite you back to China to see the green forest that grew from your support all those years ago." Yin wanted to find the American donor and personally show him this forest his kindness had helped grow. Mu Us means "bad water" in Mongolian. More than 2,000 years ago, this was actually a place of lush grass and abundant water, and it was once a region contested by the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu/Huns. Later, however, its ecology gradually deteriorated, turning it into a sandy expanse of more than 40,000 square kilometers. For more than a thousand years, those who passed through this land or lived here may have lamented its decline. But few could have imagined that time itself could one day be reversed here. In 1985, at the age of 19, Yin left her village in Shaanxi and married across the provincial border into Ordos, arriving in a place deep in the Mu Us Desert. Her new home was a cellar half-buried in the sand. It is said that on the second day after her wedding, windblown sand blocked the door shut. She made up her mind to fight the desert by planting trees. As she put it, she could not let the sand "bully her to death." The following year, Yin and her husband began their own version of "moving mountains." They planted saplings and willow cuttings in the sand, slowly opening a battle between green life and the desert. Her husband went out as a migrant worker to support this dream, and apart from barely feeding the family, nearly all of their income went into fighting the sand. Once, while digging tree pits, Yin and her husband were caught in a sandstorm. They ran back toward home but could not find their way for a long time. In the end, it was the sound of their own dog barking that guided them back. This was not some romantic pastoral story. In 1999, Ron Sakolsky, an American teaching at Luoyang Foreign Languages School in central China's Henan Province, saw Yin's desert-control story on TV. The resilience and stubborn determination of this ordinary Chinese rural woman touched him. Sakolsky decided immediately that he wanted to help her. He raised 5,000 USD for Yin in Boston and personally traveled to the Mu Us Desert to meet Yin who was taking on the sand. When Sakolsky saw Yin planting trees in the Mu Us, he kept shaking his head and saying, "Impossible." At that time, Yin's family did not own a single mechanized tool. They relied on the most basic implements: shovels and shoulder poles. She tied saplings together with hemp rope and carried them bundle by bundle into the rolling sand dunes. The newly planted saplings were only as thick as a finger and looked so fragile. How could they possibly survive the wind and sand? In fact, as I have learned, most of the species Yin planted were well adapted to sandy terrain. The groundwater level in the Mu Us is relatively high, and the area also receives seasonal rainfall. Some plants could survive naturally after being planted, while others only needed watering and care in the early stage before they no longer required long-term irrigation. At the time, Yin spoke no foreign language and did not even know what US dollar bills looked like. But she understood that this foreigner, who had come from so far away, was sincerely trying to help her. Feeling that she could not accept his kindness without offering something in return, she stayed up that night sewing a pair of embroidered insoles, then pressed them into his hands. Back then, 5,000 USD were roughly equivalent to nearly two years' salary for an urban worker in China. It was enough for a family to build a house, pay for a child's private education, or even change the fate of an entire household. But Yin kept only one dollar bill as a souvenir and used all the rest to buy saplings. After that, they lost contact. Sakolsky finished his teaching assignment and left China, while Yin stayed in the Mu Us, planting trees day after day. More than two decades passed. The saplings bought with the donation grew into towering trees and spread into a forest of more than 50,000 trees. Over the years, Yin has been honored as a National Model Worker, spoken at the United Nations, and invited to the Great Hall of the People. According to incomplete statistics, over the past 40 years she has planted millions of trees across more than 40 square kilometers of desert. As the ecology improved, the land became suitable for growing peaches, apricots, millet, beans, watermelons, mushrooms and other crops. Together with government subsidies for ecological restoration over the past two decades, these changes gradually helped her achieve a prosperous life. But Yin never forgot the American who had once reached out to help her. She had Sakolsky's name carved onto a stone tablet. Every time she walked into that forest, she would often think: How wonderful it would be if Sakolsky could see this with his own eyes. When reporters from Inner Mongolia Radio and Television learned of her wish, they decided to help her find Sakolsky. On May 16, they released a video appeal titled: Searching for Sakolsky | National Model Worker Yin Yuzhen Seeks the "Relative" of Her Trees, Inviting Her American Friend Sakolsky to Inner Mongolia: Your 5,000 USD Has Grown Into More Than 50,000 Towering Trees. Once the video was released, it quickly went viral across the internet. Sakolsky's former students and colleagues saw the report. That very evening, reporters from Inner Mongolia Radio and Television got in touch with one of Sakolsky's former colleagues, Bai Fan, the former vice principal of Luoyang Foreign Languages School. The reporters then set off overnight from Inner Mongolia for Luoyang. The next day, they met Principal Bai. In 2000, Bai had accompanied Sakolsky to Inner Mongolia to visit Yin. Bai placed an overseas call and got in touch with Sakolsky. Sakolsky was astonished and delighted. He said he would like to return to the Mu Us and witness this green miracle with his own eyes. Soon, Yin was also successfully connected with Sakolsky. Across the screen, Yin choked back tears and called out: "You are brother!" He, now 69 years and a grandpa of eight, was visibly emotional as well: "This is amazing. This is so amazing to me. I can't even believe that we are talking. I never thought I would talk to her again." For this reunion, Yin had started learning English on short notice, practicing "you are my brother" again and again. "I will be waiting for you in the desert." Yin told him. Today, thanks to the efforts of Yin and many other local farmers, about 80 percent of the Mu Us has been covered in green, and its forest coverage rate has risen to 32.92 percent. What was once a place where sand advanced and people retreated is now becoming a place where green life is pushing the desert back. According to data from China's fifth and sixth national surveys of desertified and sandy land, by the end of 2009, the country's total area of desertified land stood at 2.6237 million square kilometers, accounting for 27.33 percent of China's land area. Compared with 2004, the area of desertified land had decreased by a net 12,454 square kilometers over five years. By 2019, China's desertified land area had fallen to 2.5737 million square kilometers, a net decrease of 37,880 square kilometers compared with 2014. That means an area equivalent to the combined land size of Massachusetts and New Jersey had turned green over those five years. Behind these numbers are countless Chinese people like Yin, bending down in the wind and sand, planting tree after tree with their own hands. Sakolsky's donation became one of the most heartwarming parts of the story. In the hands of a Chinese woman fighting desertification, it became more than 50,000 trees, a forest, and an echo of goodwill that has crossed more than two decades and the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes, China-US relations do not exist only in rivalry, tariff disputes, and strategic competition. They also exist in the kindness of an American teacher, in the perseverance of a Chinese rural woman, in a pair of embroidered insoles sewn overnight, and in a forest that rose from yellow sand. This forest is a miracle made possible by an Chinese and an American. It is also a living message to both China and America: when goodwill is met with determination, even the most unlikely ground can turn green. The top two photos show Yin and the Mu Us Desert as they are today. The bottom two photos show Sakolsky with Yin back in 2000, when he visited her in Inner Mongolia.

ZhaiXiang5's tweet photo. More than two decades ago, an American teacher gave 5,000 USD to a Chinese woman he barely knew.

She planted it into the sand. Tree by tree, year by year, she turned one act of kindness into more than 50,000 living trees.

Now, deep in the Mu Us Desert (毛乌素沙漠/沙地) of Ordos (鄂尔多斯), Inner Mongolia, 60-year-old Yin Yuzhen (殷玉珍), a nationally celebrated "desert-control hero," stood in a boundless sea of trees. It is hard to imagine that this place was a barren wasteland of windblown sand where almost nothing could grow.

Facing the camera, she delivered a simple but powerful message:
"Hello, Mr. Sakolsky. If you can see this video, I would like to invite you back to China to see the green forest that grew from your support all those years ago."

Yin wanted to find the American donor and personally show him this forest his kindness had helped grow.

Mu Us means "bad water" in Mongolian. More than 2,000 years ago, this was actually a place of lush grass and abundant water, and it was once a region contested by the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu/Huns. Later, however, its ecology gradually deteriorated, turning it into a sandy expanse of more than 40,000 square kilometers.

For more than a thousand years, those who passed through this land or lived here may have lamented its decline. But few could have imagined that time itself could one day be reversed here.

In 1985, at the age of 19, Yin left her village in Shaanxi and married across the provincial border into Ordos, arriving in a place deep in the Mu Us Desert. Her new home was a cellar half-buried in the sand. It is said that on the second day after her wedding, windblown sand blocked the door shut.

She made up her mind to fight the desert by planting trees. As she put it, she could not let the sand "bully her to death."

The following year, Yin and her husband began their own version of "moving mountains." They planted saplings and willow cuttings in the sand, slowly opening a battle between green life and the desert.

Her husband went out as a migrant worker to support this dream, and apart from barely feeding the family, nearly all of their income went into fighting the sand.

Once, while digging tree pits, Yin and her husband were caught in a sandstorm. They ran back toward home but could not find their way for a long time. In the end, it was the sound of their own dog barking that guided them back.

This was not some romantic pastoral story.

In 1999, Ron Sakolsky, an American teaching at Luoyang Foreign Languages School in central China's Henan Province, saw Yin's desert-control story on TV.

The resilience and stubborn determination of this ordinary Chinese rural woman touched him. Sakolsky decided immediately that he wanted to help her. He raised 5,000 USD for Yin in Boston and personally traveled to the Mu Us Desert to meet Yin who was taking on the sand.

When Sakolsky saw Yin planting trees in the Mu Us, he kept shaking his head and saying, "Impossible." At that time, Yin's family did not own a single mechanized tool. They relied on the most basic implements: shovels and shoulder poles. She tied saplings together with hemp rope and carried them bundle by bundle into the rolling sand dunes. The newly planted saplings were only as thick as a finger and looked so fragile. How could they possibly survive the wind and sand?

In fact, as I have learned, most of the species Yin planted were well adapted to sandy terrain. The groundwater level in the Mu Us is relatively high, and the area also receives seasonal rainfall. Some plants could survive naturally after being planted, while others only needed watering and care in the early stage before they no longer required long-term irrigation.

At the time, Yin spoke no foreign language and did not even know what US dollar bills looked like. But she understood that this foreigner, who had come from so far away, was sincerely trying to help her. Feeling that she could not accept his kindness without offering something in return, she stayed up that night sewing a pair of embroidered insoles, then pressed them into his hands.

Back then, 5,000 USD were roughly equivalent to nearly two years' salary for an urban worker in China. It was enough for a family to build a house, pay for a child's private education, or even change the fate of an entire household. But Yin kept only one dollar bill as a souvenir and used all the rest to buy saplings.

After that, they lost contact. Sakolsky finished his teaching assignment and left China, while Yin stayed in the Mu Us, planting trees day after day. More than two decades passed. The saplings bought with the donation grew into towering trees and spread into a forest of more than 50,000 trees.

Over the years, Yin has been honored as a National Model Worker, spoken at the United Nations, and invited to the Great Hall of the People. According to incomplete statistics, over the past 40 years she has planted millions of trees across more than 40 square kilometers of desert. As the ecology improved, the land became suitable for growing peaches, apricots, millet, beans, watermelons, mushrooms and other crops. Together with government subsidies for ecological restoration over the past two decades, these changes gradually helped her achieve a prosperous life.

But Yin never forgot the American who had once reached out to help her. She had Sakolsky's name carved onto a stone tablet.

Every time she walked into that forest, she would often think:
How wonderful it would be if Sakolsky could see this with his own eyes.

When reporters from Inner Mongolia Radio and Television learned of her wish, they decided to help her find Sakolsky. On May 16, they released a video appeal titled:
Searching for Sakolsky | National Model Worker Yin Yuzhen Seeks the "Relative" of Her Trees, Inviting Her American Friend Sakolsky to Inner Mongolia: Your 5,000 USD Has Grown Into More Than 50,000 Towering Trees.

Once the video was released, it quickly went viral across the internet.

Sakolsky's former students and colleagues saw the report. That very evening, reporters from Inner Mongolia Radio and Television got in touch with one of Sakolsky's former colleagues, Bai Fan, the former vice principal of Luoyang Foreign Languages School. The reporters then set off overnight from Inner Mongolia for Luoyang.

The next day, they met Principal Bai. In 2000, Bai had accompanied Sakolsky to Inner Mongolia to visit Yin. Bai placed an overseas call and got in touch with Sakolsky.

Sakolsky was astonished and delighted. He said he would like to return to the Mu Us and witness this green miracle with his own eyes.

Soon, Yin was also successfully connected with Sakolsky. Across the screen, Yin choked back tears and called out:

"You are brother!"

He, now 69 years and a grandpa of eight, was visibly emotional as well:
"This is amazing. This is so amazing to me. I can't even believe that we are talking. I never thought I would talk to her again."

For this reunion, Yin had started learning English on short notice, practicing "you are my brother" again and again.

"I will be waiting for you in the desert." Yin told him.

Today, thanks to the efforts of Yin and many other local farmers, about 80 percent of the Mu Us has been covered in green, and its forest coverage rate has risen to 32.92 percent. What was once a place where sand advanced and people retreated is now becoming a place where green life is pushing the desert back.

According to data from China's fifth and sixth national surveys of desertified and sandy land, by the end of 2009, the country's total area of desertified land stood at 2.6237 million square kilometers, accounting for 27.33 percent of China's land area. Compared with 2004, the area of desertified land had decreased by a net 12,454 square kilometers over five years.

By 2019, China's desertified land area had fallen to 2.5737 million square kilometers, a net decrease of 37,880 square kilometers compared with 2014. That means an area equivalent to the combined land size of Massachusetts and New Jersey had turned green over those five years.

Behind these numbers are countless Chinese people like Yin, bending down in the wind and sand, planting tree after tree with their own hands.

Sakolsky's donation became one of the most heartwarming parts of the story.

In the hands of a Chinese woman fighting desertification, it became more than 50,000 trees, a forest, and an echo of goodwill that has crossed more than two decades and the Pacific Ocean.

Sometimes, China-US relations do not exist only in rivalry, tariff disputes, and strategic competition. They also exist in the kindness of an American teacher, in the perseverance of a Chinese rural woman, in a pair of embroidered insoles sewn overnight, and in a forest that rose from yellow sand.

This forest is a miracle made possible by an Chinese and an American. It is also a living message to both China and America: when goodwill is met with determination, even the most unlikely ground can turn green.

The top two photos show Yin and the Mu Us Desert as they are today.
The bottom two photos show Sakolsky with Yin back in 2000, when he visited her in Inner Mongolia.

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