American donated US$ 5,000 to a Chinese farmer to plant trees in the desert, and decades later the money turned into a forest with more than 50,000 trees.

Written by Fabio Lucas Carvalho

Published on 26/05/2026 at 07:35

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Donation made by Ronald Sakolsky after CCTV report helped Yin Yuzhen buy seedlings in the Maowusu desert; decades later, the area gathers more than 50 thousand trees and became a symbol of combating desertification in China.

More than 50 thousand trees were born from a $5,000 donation made decades ago by American Ronald Sakolsky to Chinese farmer Yin Yuzhen, who has now invited him to visit the forest in the Inner Mongolia desert.

Donation turned into forest where there was sand

Yin Yuzhen, 60 years old, lives in the Maowusu desert, also called the Ordos desert, one of China’s four major sandy areas. She moved to the region in the 1980s after marrying a local resident.

Since then, she has been planting trees with her husband, facing drought and strong winds. The work gained visibility in 1999 when it was shown by CCTV.

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Farmer in the desert becomes symbol of persistence

Yin used the money to buy seedlings and expand the planting. She recalled that when Sakolsky visited the place, he found a landscape taken over by yellow sand and reacted by saying it seemed impossible.

The seedlings funded by the donation have transformed, according to Yin, into more than 50 thousand adult trees. In early May, she asked the Henan school for help in locating the American.

On May 17, Deputy Director Bai Fan called Sakolsky and conveyed the family’s invitation. The American replied that it would be “incredible” to see the forest, although the date of the trip has not yet been announced.

Case gains repercussion in China

The story attracted attention on Chinese social networks, where users highlighted trust, persistence, and popular friendship between China and the United States.

By the end of 2024, 53% of China’s manageable desertified lands had been treated, with a net reduction of 65 million mu, about 4.3 million hectares.

Importance of Forest Protection

Protecting forests is important for the world because they support an essential part of life on the planet. They help regulate the climate, store carbon, protect rivers, conserve biodiversity, and maintain natural services that directly affect food, water, health, and the economy.

Forests act as major climate regulators. Trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere and help reduce the advance of global warming. When a forest is cut down or burned, part of this carbon returns to the air, worsening climate change.

They also protect water. Forests help maintain springs, rivers, and aquifers, reduce soil erosion, and contribute to the rainfall cycle. In many regions, the loss of vegetation can affect the availability of water for cities, agriculture, and energy production.

Another central point is biodiversity. Thousands of species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms depend on forests to survive. The destruction of these environments can cause extinctions and unbalance entire natural chains.

Forests also have a direct impact on human life. They support traditional communities, indigenous peoples, legal economic activities, tourism, scientific research, and the production of food and medicines. Protecting forests is not just an environmental issue; it is a measure of climate, food, water, and economic security.

This article was prepared based on information published by the SCMP. The content was supported by AI tools in editorial organization and underwent human review before publication.

American donated US$ 5,000 to a Chinese farmer to plant trees in the desert, and decades later the money turned into a forest with more than 50,000 trees.

Donation made by Ronald Sakolsky after CCTV report helped Yin Yuzhen buy seedlings in the Maowusu desert; decades later, the area gathers more than 50 thousand trees and became a symbol of combating desertification in China.

Donation turned into forest where there was sand

Farmer in the desert becomes symbol of persistence

Case gains repercussion in China

Importance of Forest Protection

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American donated US$ 5,000 to a Chinese farmer to plant trees in the desert, and decades later the money turned into a forest with more than 50,000 trees.

Donation made by Ronald Sakolsky after CCTV report helped Yin Yuzhen buy seedlings in the Maowusu desert; decades later, the area gathers more than 50 thousand trees and became a symbol of combating desertification in China.

Donation turned into forest where there was sand

Farmer in the desert becomes symbol of persistence

Case gains repercussion in China

Importance of Forest Protection

With billions in loans, China is rebuilding Nigeria’s railway network from scratch, abandoning the British colonial tracks that have turned to scrap and creating a corridor of over 1,300 km to take the load off the roads of Africa’s largest economy.

Forget petroleum-based asphalt: a Scottish company transforms 684,000 plastic bottles into one kilometer of road that is 60% more resistant and up to 10 times more durable, and the technology has already started replacing traditional asphalt in more than 30 countries.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

Austrian engineers have developed an inflatable concrete technology that transforms flat slabs into domes using only air pressure, eliminating scaffolding and temporary forms, and potentially changing the way bridges, tunnels, and curved roofs are constructed worldwide.

A robot named Walter does the work of five bricklayers per hour and can save the construction industry, where the average age of professionals is 46 years and almost no one wants to learn the trade anymore, in the United Kingdom.

Spain installs two giant pipelines 2.2 km off the coast to draw water from the Mediterranean and supply a megafacility capable of producing 200 million liters of drinking water per day.

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