Desolate island now a forested home

To Ye Zhiyong, islands should be as verdant and lush as his home - the forested Xiamen Island in southeastern Fujian province. However, about 250 kilometers to the northeast, the scenery on Pingtan Island brought to mind a sense of desolation when he arrived in March 2012.

Ye, deputy Party chief of Pingtan Urban Investment Co, was originally supposed to work in Pingtan in a temporary post for three years and return to his home in Xiamen.

Barren land and a lack of water were the main challenges when he was assigned to build a green belt of trees to fight soil erosion. "I knew nothing on arrival but I knew it's much harder to plant trees here than in Xiamen," he said.