Published on: 2026-08-31
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
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On August 24, American Ronald Sacholski arrived in the Maosu desert in the city of Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to visit the famous desertification fighter Yin Yuizhen. Here he also met his old friend from working in China — Bai Fang, Party Committee Secretary of the Education Group of the Second Foreign Language School of Luoyang city, Henan province.
At Yin Yu-zhen’s house, friends gathered for tea and engaged in a leisurely conversation. “I am just an ordinary teacher with a kind heart, and have never done this for fame,” said Sacholski. He added that the younger generation may not know what this desert looked like before, so teachers must tell students what this land was like before its transformation.
In 1999, when Sacholski was teaching at the Second Foreign Language School in the city of Luoyang, he learned about the heroic deed of Yin Yuzhen, who selflessly fought desertification in Maosu. At that time, he collected 5,000 US dollars to help Yin Yuzhen. After 26 years, the hope embedded in these funds, under the careful care of the Yin couple, turned into an extensive forest area of about 50,000 trees. Yin Yuzhen became for Sacholski a “heroine performing miracles.”
At the meeting place, Yin Yuizhen and her family presented Sacholski with a wreath of flowers. He put it on and with his own eyes saw the endless sea of greenery, and then personally touched the old tree that they had planted together 26 years ago. After that, in front of everyone present, Yin Yuizhen and Sacholski took shovels together and planted a new seedling, thus fulfilling the vow made 26 years ago — to plant a new tree together. Today, Yin Yuizhen’s home has moved from a dugout half-buried in sand to a two-story cottage, and this land has said goodbye to yellow storms and welcomed green forests and blooming gardens. The story of Sacholski and Yin Yuizhen began among barren sands and continues amid abundant greenery.
At the invitation of the China Association for International Educational Exchanges, an American friend supporting the fight against desertification in China, Sacholski, arrived in China on August 23 to meet Yin Yuuzhen. From August 23 to September 1, he will visit Beijing, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Henan Province.
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