81-year-old forest ranger keeps on walking to save trees

An 81-year-old man in Zaoyang county of Hubei province has been working as a volunteer forest ranger for 33 years.

Everyday Sun Zhiqiang patrols a local hill at least four times, which means he walks about 10.4 kilometers a day. So in the last 33 years he has walked a distance equal to the length of the equator.

The old man has been living alone in a stone house since he was 48. There is no electricity or running water in his home, and barely any furniture. To protect the trees on the hill from being stolen, he did not attend the weddings of his four children.

Sun said he now has two wishes. One is to be buried on the hill and the other is to find another ranger.

But no one wants to work on the hill because of the poor conditions.

(Chutian Metropolis Daily)

(China Daily 06/13/2011 page5)