An American teacher and Chinese sand-control woman keep a 26-year green promise

Published : 2026-10-12

A recruitment notice brought American Teacher Sakolsky to Luoyang

Ronald Sakolsky is a retired American teacher in his late sixties. In 2000, he and Yin Yuzhen(殷玉珍) planted a small sapling in the Mu Us Desert; 26 years later, the area next to the former sapling has become a lush sea of forest, later known as "Sakolsky's Forest".

And the desert where Yin Yuzhen and her husband have been combating desertification and planting forests for many years has now covering over 70,000 mu of forest.

Why would an American history teacher form a bond with a rural woman from the deserts of Northwest China over planting trees and combating desertification?

It all began in 1999 when Sakolsky read a recruitment notice.

At that time, he was a high school history teacher in a small town in Pennsylvania(賓夕法尼亞州), and while flipping through a magazine, he spotted a recruitment for the "US-China Teacher Exchange Program".

He was very interested, took the initiative to sign up, and eventually taught for a year at a Foreign Languages Junior High School in Luoyang(洛陽), Henan.

Sakolsky has always loved China's historical sites, and he was deeply interested in the historical sites of Luoyang, where he could "live like a Chinese person and learn Chinese culture".

During his teaching period, he not only dedicated himself to teaching and nurturing students but also organised a "Lunch Club" with his colleagues. Everyone brought their own packed lunches, eating while conversing in English, to help young teachers develop quickly.

Sakowski helped fundraising to support Yin Yuzhen fighting the sandstorms

One evening in October 1999, Sakowski was watching the English news from CCTV in his dormitory when he saw a report on the Mu Us Desert in Inner Mongolia, thousands of miles away.

On the screen, a rural woman was planting trees amidst swirling yellow sand, using straw checkerboard barriers to stabilise the shifting dunes, then planting saplings, and trying to stop the advancing sands from encroaching on her home.

Her name was Yin Yuzhen. In 1985, at the age of only 19, she married and moved to Jingbeitang(井背塘) in Uxin Banner(烏審旗). After her marriage, she lived in a dwelling of less than a few square metres in the sandy land, constantly battling sandstorms.

To survive, she and her husband, Bai Wanxiang(白萬祥), decided to plant trees to block the sand. The first 600 saplings they obtained were reduced to fewer than 10 after a strong wind.

Despite countless setbacks, she never give up and continued to try planting repeatedly. She once vowed, "I would rather die of exhaustion planting trees than let the sand bully me to death.”

Watching the screen, Sakowsky suddenly burst into tears; he was moved by her tenacious spirit of "doing something known to be impossible", and the thought of "helping" arose.

So, he sent emails to various organisations in the United States, telling the story of this Chinese woman, Yin Yuzhen, planting trees in the desert. After contacting more than ten organisations over a period of two months, Sakowsky finally received a donation of 5,000 US dollars from a charitable organisation in Boston.

The donation was equivalent to Yin Yuzhen's income over 20 years, enough to build a house or even change her family's life.

But she resolutely used most of the donation to buy over 50,000 saplings, which she continuied planting, tending and protecting in the desert.

The impossible desert became a sea of forest within 26 years

In spring 2000, Sakowsky travelled from Henan to the Mu Us Desert, met Yin Yuzhen for the first time, and even tried planting trees in the sand under her guidance.

He thought at the time that even if the saplings could survive in such a harsh environment, they would not grow very tall.

He later recalled, "At that time, I felt from the bottom of my heart that turning this sandy land into a forest was an impossible mission."

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After that meeting, Sakolsky finished his one-year teaching term and returned to the United States, and the two gradually lost contact.

Yin Yuzhen planted trees day after day in Mu Us, with one thought in mind: to let Sakolsky know that his kindness had not been in vain.

The story of Sakolsky and Yin Yuzhen joining forces across borders to plant trees and combat desertification unexpectedly had a follow-up 26 years later.

In mid-May 2026, Yin Yuzhen released a video searching for him, hoping to find the benefactor behind this forest: "Mr Sakolsky, the 5,000 US dollars you donated back then have been planted into this green forest."

The video spread quickly. With the help of Sakolsky's former colleague in Luoyang, Bai Fan(白帆) and others, the two reconnected soon.

On 23 August 2026, after a long flight of more than 30 hours, Sakolsky arrived in Ordos(鄂爾多斯), Inner Mongolia, where Yin Yuzhen was already waiting at the airport.

The two elderly people with grey hair met again, embracing tightly and shedding tears.

The next day, they returned to the Mu Us Desert to look for the sapling they had planted together 26 years ago, which has now grown into a large tree over 10 metres tall.

They also planted another sapling together as a symbol of friendship. Sakolsky recalled that the saplings purchased and planted with 5,000 US dollars back then have grown into more than 50,000 large trees; the desert once filled with yellow sand is now a sea of forest covering more than 70,000 mu.

A tree connects people and nature; the desert control practices of Sakolsky and Yin Yuzhen connect China with the world, and also demonstrate cross-border kindness, as well as the cherishing and protection of nature.

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