China's desert fighter reconnects with U.S. donor after more than two decades

(ECNS) -- A Chinese woman who spent decades turning barren desert into woodland has successfully reconnected with an American former teacher who donated $5,000 to support her tree-planting efforts in 1999.

Yin Yuzhen, 59, gained national attention after launching a search notice for Ronald Sakolsky, a U.S. citizen who taught at a foreign language school in central China's Luoyang city, Henan Province more than two decades ago.

Ronald Sakolsky (Six from left) from the U.S. donates $5,000 to Yin Yuzhen for Yin's cause of turning the Mu Us desert in Inner Mongolia into a forest. (Photo/People’s Daily)

The search, which went viral on Chinese social media, ended successfully on Sunday. Sakolsky was thrilled to learn that the trees he funded have grown into a forest, according to Bai Fan, former vice principal at Luoyang Foreign Language School who accompanied Sakolsky on his visit to the Mu Us Desert in Inner Mongolia in 1999.

"That's great!" Sakolsky said during a phone call with Bai. "I can't wait to come to China."

Yin was 19 when she moved from Shaanxi Province to Jingbeitang, a sand-enveloped area deep in the Mu Us Desert in Inner Mongolia's Uxin Banner. Her wedding home was a cellar half-buried in sand, where strong winds often sealed the entrance overnight with drifting dunes.

"I'd rather die planting trees than be bullied by the sand," Yin said.

Despite living in poverty, Yin and her husband, Bai Wanxiang, devoted nearly all their income to planting trees. Bai took on odd jobs in exchange for saplings instead of wages, while the couple gradually developed methods to stabilize sand dunes, retain moisture and expand vegetation across the desert.

In 1999, Sakolsky saw Yin's story on a television program while teaching at Luoyang Foreign Language School. Impressed by her tenacity, he donated $5,000 through a foundation and travelled to the Mu Us Desert to meet her.

At the time, Sakolsky was astonished to see Yin carrying bundles of thin saplings across the dunes using only shovels and shoulder poles.

Yin used almost all the money to buy more saplings, keeping just one dollar bill as a souvenir.

After Sakolsky returned to the United States, the two gradually lost contact. Yin remained in the desert, planting trees year after year.

Now the once-slender saplings have grown into a sprawling forest covering tens of thousands of mu. Hoping to show Sakolsky the changes with his own eyes, Yin recently began searching for her old friend online.

Yin had Sakolsky's name engraved on a stone monument in the desert in memory of his support. Now, more than 20 years later, the two hope to reunite in the place where their friendship first took root.

(By Zhang Dongfang)