 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling.(December 2025) |
Yin Yuzhen | |
|---|---|
殷玉珍 | |
 Yin in 2024 | |
| Born | 1965/1966 |
| Years active | 1985-present |
| Known for | Combating desertification |
Yin Yuzhen is a Chinese woman known for her personal efforts to combat desertification over the course of 40 years. [1] [2] [3]
Yin Yuzhen is renowned for her extensive tree-planting efforts in the Uxin Banner of China's semi-arid western region, a personal initiative that grew into a significant state-supported reforestation project.
Beginning in 1985, Yin started experimenting with various plants in her backyard. Her primary goal was to combat soil erosion and reclaim the barren landscape. [4]
Over the years, the scale of her project expanded considerably, drawing increased attention and support both from local authorities and the wider community. [5] Her determined efforts eventually earned significant recognition and state support, resulting in substantial environmental improvements across the area.
Yuzhen was born in a small village in Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province. As the fifth of seven siblings, helping with housework and doing her part came naturally to her. Growing up in extreme poverty, she recalled that luxury items like rings or necklaces were unthinkable, as her family struggles even to afford basic necessities like clothing and food.
At the age of nineteen, her parents arranged her marriage to Bai Wanxiang, who lived in the extremely desolate Mu Us Desert.
Yin's first home in the desert was a basic cave structure. The floor was covered only with firewood and dry deadwood, and the roof was crudely constructed from an assortment of wood tied together with pieces of rope and straw. Upon first seeing the dwelling, she was devastated, weeping for seven days and consuming only water. [4] The living quarters were so small that she had to bend down to enter and curl up into a ball to sleep.
In the first forty days of living there, she reported not seeing another human being. The deprivation of social interaction was so sever that when she finally did see a man, she ran toward him, inadvertently scaring him away. [6] She often had thoughts of suicide, but stated that she lacked the means to act on them- there was no belt available to hang herself, nor was there a single tree in sight for miles.
The surrounding Mu Us Desert environment spanned 16,300 miles and was described as a sterile, suffering from a persistent wind that lasted from spring until winter. [4] These constant winds made travel difficult, essentially cutting Yin off from the rest of the country.
Yin often contemplated leaving the village. However, when she consulted her husband, he begged her to stay, proclaiming that he would not survive alone in the desert. [6]
Ultimately, fuelled by her inherent hard-working attitude and her sheer frustration with the harsh conditions, Yin made a life-altering decision. She resolved that she would rather wear herself out planting trees to combat the desert than be defeated by the environment. She decided that she would not resort to begging. Instead, she would actively fight and subdue the desert itself. As she began her monumental effort to fight the desolation, she created a song that she would sing to herself to maintain her resolve through the troubling times. [6]
Desert Hymn
The sandstorm in the Maowusa Desert is filling the skies
I wish for green trees in the desert to keep me company
I kept a tree alive and it started to spread
I wish that the lands would be fertile and abundant [6]
Yin quickly began her quest to transform the environment, a personal mission that started with a significant sacrifice- selling her family’s livestock in exchange for 600 saplings. She planted the first trees directly in front of her home, determined to turn the isolated desert into a lush, vibrant forest.
Despite her conviction, neither Yin nor her husband, Bai Wanxiang, knew much about forestation or planting trees, leading to significant trial and error. The harsh desert climate immediately challenged their efforts- powerful winds and severe drought killed nearly all the initial stock. Out of the 600 saplings planted, only twelve survived. [4]
Determined not to die in the desolate desert, Yin pressed on, using the twelve surviving trees to motivate her journey. To secure move sources, she and her husband worked building houses and doing farm labor, accepting saplings as payment. [4]
Over the next thirty years, Yin transformed her approach from simple planting to skilled ecological restoration. She learned how to change the barren landscape into a thriving forest teeming with life that had been absent for decades. As the prior void of life turned a new page, she welcomes the animals that returned, treating them as if they were her children.
Through her efforts, Yin discovered that the water sources in the desert were exceedingly deep, often reaching 390 feet down. Because of this, predicting the weather became crucial, with the last snowfall serving as a key indicator. She began preparing several saplings in advance to accurately anticipate the number of trees that needed to be planted in that limited, specific window, giving them the best possible chance for survival. [4]
Initially, Yin focused on planting trees such as willows and poplars. However, she soon discovered that the lifespan of these trees only lasted for several decades. She found a much longer-lasting alternative in pine trees, which can survive for several thousands of years.
As a result of her persistent actions, Yin was recognized in 2005 as an ideal worker in China for safeguarding the environment, and her efforts quickly gained government support. [4] Yin stated that before the media discovered her, she had nothing, but afterwards, she was suddenly "fludded by all this support and funds" that lifted her out of her difficult leaving conditions and transformed her into a national icon. [6]
The government's support and agenda caused the afforestation efforts to explode. Yin was subsequently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by the Chinese Government. The government, funding these extensive efforts, quickly realized that the desert could indeed be tamed by the determined work of individuals like Yin. Promptly, they south to achieve their goals there with the creation of a monocultural forest (a forest composed mainly of a single species of tree).
Yin has expressed concerns regarding the ecological health and long-term sustainability of the large-scale reformations efforts, particularly those driven by the state.
She noted that the initial mass planting of poplar trees has created an ecological imbalance. While poplars grow quickly and are profitable- making 57.9% of the Uxin Banner's tree sales in 2019 [5] , they pose a significant environmental risk. Poplar trees thrive by drawing heavily on deep groundwater sources. This excessive use of deep water can deplete the water table and dry out the surrounding soil, resulting in desertification. [5] This outcome defeats the original purpose of planting the trees, as the effort to fight the desert unintentionally creates another one.
Yin suggests that the rapid, target-driven forestation tactics, often fuelled by state goals rather than careful, sustained effort, can destroy the very ecosystems they aim to save. [5] The creation of monocultural forests (planting a single species) is volnerable to disease and lacks the resilience of a natural ecosystem. Efforts carried out in the name of "ecological salvation" can lead to negative social impacts, such as green-grabbing (the appropriation of land for environmental purposes), which can uproot individuals living in the targeted environment. [5]
Yin has noted that her existing trees lack topsoil and currently require constant watering to survive. Based on her experience, she argues that for an ecosystem to be truly self-sufficient, it requires a diversification of various factors, including different tree species, as well as the presence of animal and fungal species.
As a result of her overall success, Yin has gained significant government support and has been able to plant not just pine trees but watermelons, pear trees, peach trees, apricot trees, and other different variations of wildlife to boot. [4] Her once backyard experiment has now been built into an ecological park that is bursting with life. Its production can generate considerable revenue for Yin and her family. Her environment is only in constant expansion due to outside investment attempting to meet China’s afforestation efforts. Her old life and clothes she has left in the past and has retired that simplistic squabble living. Yin states that she cares about what people think of her now since coming into the spotlight she feels as though she has to be constantly viewed as a model worker and the Chinese government has established that mantel on her. [6] In the clothes that she was gifted by the media, her favorite green coat is ultimately her favorite, wearing her clothing with high spirit a reminder of all she has overcome in her life. [6] The trees give her strength stating that she feels like a warrior emerging from gunfire when is surrounded by them a testament to what she has become. [6] They have become more than lowly plant-life to her much like the animals that inhabit the trees around her she views the trees themselves as her children She has left her old hobbit dwelling behind for a modern house and has four children and six grandchildren among them. Even in her later years, Yin is still constantly looking to grow her in many aspects of her life quite literally as she now has an ecological friendly restaurant, office building, and a patriotism education base in her vicinity. [4] She has inspired others in her village to fight back against the sand and have similar planting trees to control the sand. Her once-barren farm is now an ecological tourism center bringing on all different walks of life to come and observe her perseverance. In 1978 China launched Anti-desertification efforts in an attempt to combat desert areas of Northern China. Data according to the State Forestry Administration shows that the forest stratification has grown from 5.05% in 1977 to 12.4 in 2012 [7] Many have attributed feats like this to Yin Yuzhen who one would think would at this point halt her expansion of greenery, but no she rather looks to expand her legacy onward and hopes to draw out economic opportunities from this once desolate land by harvesting mass amounts of economic crops.
Yin’s afforestation efforts have been recognized by individuals such as Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, who, during the 2020 National People's Congress, described the actions of those such as Yin as a remarkable achievement and an overall improvement of the ecology in China. [4] As well as being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by the Chinese Government Yin has been recognized by a number of different groups as well. The recipient of over sixty awards on the Chinese mainland as well as abroad. In 2013 she was awarded the Somazzi Prize, awarded to those who exemplify efforts of astounding peace and achievement regarding human rights. [7] Later in 2015 she was recognized by China and elected to be one of the Ten Persons of the Year to Devolution of Homeland China. [7]
 | This section may relate to a different subject or has undue weight on an aspect of the subject.(December 2021) |
Much like Yu Yuzhen, Li Yunsheng has dedicated his life to nurturing and taking care of the various trees he has come to call his own. 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. [8]
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. [9] 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. [9] 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.
Much like Yu Yuzhen, 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. [9] 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." [8] 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. [8]
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. [9] 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.” [9]
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. [8] The soil surrounding the county has become more fertile in nature as well as boosting the business dealings of Shanxi Youyu Tuyuan Industries. [8] 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.
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. [10] 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.” [10] 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. [10] 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. [10] 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. [10] 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. [10] 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.” [10]
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. [11] 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.
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 [12] 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. [13] 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. [14] The emissions coal contributes about 72% of electrical emissions yearly. [14] 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.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)