Li Yunsheng is a Chinese man known for his reforestation efforts. Residing in the Shanxi Province in Youyu county for seven decades Li and the people of Youyu have spent day after day conditioning their lives centered around the cause of afforestation. At 65 years old, Li Yunsheng found a calling in nature by planting hundreds of trees around Matou Mountain. Born at Matoushan Village in a harsh desert climate Li lived in an exposed barren land deprived of life and desolate in nature. The difficulty of the environment made it toilsome to cook and boil water forcing Li and his family to eat foods simple in nature that were flower-based and drink water that was left untreated.[1]
Li had been discharged from the military after being stationed in the People's Liberation Army in 1984 he soon found work elsewhere, becoming a driver, eventually being able to establish his own driving school. Living in the village Li found that the land was harsh and unforgiving. Living with his family his wife, and three children, they struggled to get by. In 2002 the Youyu Government took matters into their own hands and relocated 20 households in the Matoushan Village due to these remote, barren conditions.[2] However, Li felt as though he could not part with the village. Rather than leaving and relocating himself and his family, he instead opted to stay and improve the overall atmosphere of the village. Much like the story of Yin Yizhen Li wouldn't give up his passionate nature to transform the sandy mountain. However, Li had trouble finding support for his passion as family members and friends mocked him as he had spent all his money on shrubs and pines in order to fix the soil.[2] Only years later after seeing the finished progress of all of the hard dedicated work he performed did the recognition of what he had done finally came to fruition.
Planting journey
Li took it upon himself to change the barren environment around him. Tree planting became his craft as he would travel up the mountain every day, packing a lunch and a cool drink to aid him on his journey. He was able to contract about 83 hectares of Matou Mountain and used the land acquired to spread his forest.[2] As Li described, he had much trouble planting initially, much like the efforts the Chinese Government puts in its Great Green Wall initiatives with the Gobi Desert trees can combat the harsh conditions of the desert and without them, saplings will have difficulty surviving initially. The desert winds are fierce, and saplings with no support cover from other trees are often battered through sandstorms and the harsh winds that reside in deserts. Li had a solution for this, though as through trial and error his methods as he stated, "First I wrapped the roots of saplings with plastic bags, stabilized the roots with mud deep inside the sandy land. After two or three years, I dug the sand and moved away from the plastic bags. Through this way, the saplings could be rooted stably in sandy lands regardless of the wind."[1] Planting trees upwards of five times repetitively for them to survive, Li was determined to change the surrounding landscape. He quickly soon found out that in order to plant the mountain he lacked the constant movement of supplies as there was no road and all of his supplies were forcing him to carry them on foot, a challenge that crippled his progress for a time. Something had to be done in order for his dream to become a reality, he needed to have a road. If a road did not come the issue of watering the saplings as well as plant more would cause the progress Li had made to fall flat.[1]
Botanical breakthrough
After receding into debt as a result of his massive spending for his tree-planting passion, accumulating five million Yuan in debt ($726,000) A road proved to be his salvation as the Wang Jian of the transportation Bureau elected for the creation of a road which Li was able to use to pay back most of his debt through exporting cattle and facilitate the purchasing of more trees.[2] The road made the Transportation of raw materials all the better. Li initially would spend upwards of 100,000-200,000 yuan each year to get his operation off the ground. In contrast, in more recent years, his forest has become so lush that he finds that he only needs to spend about 10,000 a year to replant old trees that have died and proper forest management. He attributes this massive spending to his love of trees, stating; "What I'm aiming for...I really don't know the answer. I just simply love trees." [2]
Today
Li has successfully brought the fruits of his labor to his home, despite the doubters who criticized him on his journey. As a result of his efforts, Youyu has been transformed into an extensive forest that has upwards of 130 million trees in its vicinity. Recently Li has taken up a breeding business that has allowed him to turn a profit on this land by earning upwards of 300,000-500,000 yuan of profit as well as his cattle business made possible by the road into town.[1] The soil surrounding the county has become more fertile in nature as well as boosting the business dealings of Shanxi Youyu Tuyuan Industries.[1] With the improvement of the environment, the company has been able to plant and harvest good quality scallions and even make a substantial profit from them, a feat that was not possible years ago when Li first began his quest.
Problems with large scale afforestation
As the efforts of afforestation have been largely successful in the examples of Yin Yuzhen and Li Yunsheng. This largely can be attributed to the use of trial and error tactics when planting trees as well as the wide variety of vegetation that creates an ecological balance with the environment learning to exist among one another. Rather than focusing on preventing desertification by rapidly mass planting trees, recreating a natural ecological balance would be more beneficial to the environment it is subjected to.[3] As stated by Shixiong Cao of China's Agricultural University, "Planting trees in arid and semiarid regions of China has led to increased environmental degradation and impacts on soil moisture, hydrology, and vegetation coverage."[3] The large production of monocultural forests have led to the rapid desertification of areas that have been depleted of groundwater depriving the land of minerals and vegetation leading to a desolate environment. This can be partly attributed to programs in China such as the Three Norths Shelter Forest System Project in an attempt to tackle large-scale desertification and partake in the mass afforestation efforts that China so desperately needs. This effort will last until 2050 and has resulted in 29% of China being affected by afforestation efforts; however, as the land that has been impacted by the rapid movement of afforestation Equally, the erosion of land has increased exponentially.[3] The efforts such as these are incredibly resource-dependent and require considerable amounts of funds to operate. This leads to the conclusion that along with the expansion of forestation, the scope of destruction is equally as impactful, implying that these heavy cost efforts are not very productive.[3] Despite the efforts, the frequency and consistency of various sandstorms have increased and affected northern China's desert region and other nations, including South Korea, Japan, and even North America.[3] Another instance of the impact of rapid tree planting would be the impact in cases of drought. Often the soil in a region can withstand periods of drought due to the dampness of the soil being able to carry over to the next rainfall. However, as a result of these deep water-dependent trees needing constant water supplies, the natural deep groundwater wells are depleted, increasing tree mortality and leading to rapid desertification.[3] The efforts of reforestation have been successful to a degree, yet according to Shixiong Cao of China's Agricultural University "Since 1949, the overall survival rate of trees planted during afforestation projects has been only 15% across arid and semiarid northern China." [3]
Ties to ecological civilization
Instances such as the experiences of Yu Yuzhen and Li Yunsheng have demonstrated China's idea of ecological civilization. Initially, the Chinese state has expanded its nation through rapid economic expansionary tactics, and when confronted with a crossroads between economic expansion and issues concerning the environment, the environment was left out to dry previously. However, in more recent years China has concerned itself with combating climate change and making a name for itself as the leading superpower in clean alternative energy.[4] Efforts like this can be attributed to China's commitment to the Paris Climate Accords and the efforts of those such as Yin and Li have only fueled their commitment to changing their face as the worlds leading emitter of carbon emissions. China has made a significant effort in combating its environmental impact more recently with a heightened focus on air quality that has been steadily improving over the years. This rapid afforestation is extremely beneficial to the air quality in China as these barren wastelands have been transformed from seemingly useless deserts into oxygen-producing epicenters that in turn can lower the carbon impact from China multiple times over.
Air quality contribution
The air quality in China has been deteriorating rapidly over the course of the last several decades. With the transformation of China into a rapidly developing consumer culture society after the death of Mao Zedong and the emergence of Deng Xiaoping the nation transformed into a society surrounded by capitalistic ideas yet straining the control of a Communist State with neoliberal principles[5] As a result of this China has created an export-driven economy that facilitates its economic expansion through outside corporations taking advantage of China's lax workers' protections that allow them cheap cost in manufacturing while maximizing their profits abroad.[6] As a result of this factories in multiple cities in China have led its emission to rise through its use of coal power where 65% of China's power came from coal alone.[7] The emissions coal contributes about 72% of electrical emissions yearly.[7] Air pollution has been seen to have great impacts on the health and wellbeing of those who inhale it. In a study by The American Journal of Epidemiology on The China Air Pollution and Health Effects Study high levels of air pollution were seen to have adverse effects on the cardiopulmonary health of those subjected to. This only stresses the need for more afforestation efforts in China as it looks to expand its coal-powered plants as well as exporting the power to other developing countries through programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative. In a larger sense the efforts of those such as Yin Yuzhen as well as Li Yunsheng.
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