A lifetime patrolling a peak to safeguard forest and mother river for millions

More than 300,000 kilometers traversed wearing 120 different pairs of shoes in over 38 years. That's one way of looking at the life of Yang Bolun, a 59-year-old police officer attached with the Maoershan Mountain Police Station in Guilin,Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Yang is tasked with patrolling the highest peak in South China, 2,142 meters above sea level and spread across 17,000 hectares, and protecting the forest there.

Starting as "Little Yang" in his early 20s, "Old Yang" now has gray hair, but the same zeal with which he has investigated more than 160 cases, saved and treated more than 5,000 wounded wild animals, and rescued more than 200 tourists trapped in the mountains.

Despite battling bowel cancer,stomach perforation and rheumatism, ailments for which he has to regularly take medicines and undergo chemotherapy, Yang remains humble as he battles poachers and illegal loggers. He says he was just an ordinary person doing his duty in the mountain.

During those long years in the mountain, Yang missed out on many important moments, such as being with his parents in their last moments. Not without regret.

But he also gained a lot. The mountain he patrols is known as the"heart of the 164-kilometer Lijiang River" and the "lifeblood" of the Guilin karst landscape, a world natural heritage site and tourism attraction.It gives him immense pride when he reflects on the fact that he is protecting the source of the mother river of about 5 million people.

Yang is a native of Guigang in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. After graduating from forestry school in July 1984, he was posted at the Maoershan police station, 430 kilometers from his hometown.

The police station is located in Tongren village of Huajiang Yao ethnic township, at the foot of the Maoershan Mountain. Every day, he and his colleagues patrol the mountain to protect the primitive forests.

The condition of the terrain he surveys can be judged from the fact that the ruins of a US bomber that crashed fighting the Japanese during World War II and the remains of its crew were found accidentally by two herbal collectors sometime in the late 1990s, about half a century later.

In the 1990s, with underdeveloped transportation and communication facilities, Yang and his colleagues scaled the mountain on foot. In his backpack, Yang carried a machete, some dry food, police gear and, most importantly, mosquito repellents. Some nights Yang spent in the mountains, with the ground as bed and a starry sky as quilt. Romantic as it might seem,the thick bushes in the forest are infested with poisonous snakes.

When not battling the wild, the biggest fear is getting lost. Several times,while walking in the mountains, Yang ran into heavy fog and when the fog lifted, he found that he had been going around in circles in the same area.

In recent years, the condition of roads leading to the mountain has improved. Police cars can drive directly to the foot of the mountain.But, thereafter, Yang and his colleagues have to climb the mountain on foot. So many years of climbing the same mountain has made Yang a kind of specialist; he knows the mountain best while most of his former colleagues have moved on,retired or even died.

There are four other police officers and six auxiliary police officers assisting Yang in his work.

Asked how he tolerates the harsh working conditions, Yang's reply is simple: "I am the child of a farmers' family. I passed the national college entrance examination and got a job that changed my life. I am very grateful to the country, and I am determined to repay it."

Jiang Linzhi, Party chief of the Guilin Police ecological and environmental protection branch, said:"Yang has set us a good model with his perseverance. We are obliged to fulfill our duties to help Guilin develop into an international tourist resort."

Li Ziyu in Guilin contributed to this story.