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Dedicated digger plants forests to stave off sand

Hou Gui has spent decades protecting the farmland of his village in Liaoning

By Yan Dongjie in Fuxin, Liaoning | China Daily | Updated: 2024-05-28 00:00
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Over the past 24 years, Hou Gui has tirelessly dedicated himself to planting trees and protecting the forests up in the mountains, living in a simple house in the woods and rarely even looking at his phone.

If outsiders want to contact him, they have to call his wife first.

"The trees behind the fence are the ones I planted years ago," said Hou, pointing at a row of pines. "Even if the wind picks up, it's not going to move much sand anymore."

Hou, 73, is from Liujia village in Zhangwu county, Liaoning province. The area is located on the southern edge of the Horqin Sandy Land, which has been plagued by sandstorms historically.

In the spring of 1999, just after the villagers had finished planting, a sandstorm swept through and buried every single sapling. The sight of the spoiled crops deeply saddened Hou.

Responding to the national call to resist the spread of shifting sands, something that can decimate arable land, he pledged to his fellow villagers that he'd take up the mantle of planting trees around the village to control the sand and protect the farmland.

Hou resigned from his position as the village committee director, pooled his savings with his family and took on the contract to take over an area of shifting sands at Sihecheng Forest Farm.

The Horqin Sandy Land is one of the closest sources of sand and dust to Beijing. Decades ago, there were vast shifting sand dunes in the area.

Hou recalled what life was like at that time. "Sometimes the sandstorms would blow all night long, and in the morning, we couldn't even push our doors open because they'd been blocked by the sand blown in."

There is a local saying: "Wind comes only once a year, but lasts from spring to winter."

At the beginning of his afforestation efforts, Hou was repeatedly troubled by sandstorms.

Planting trees on sandy land is a difficult task within itself, and with frequent strong winds, the first batch of saplings planted were quickly submerged in sand.

After several further setbacks, Hou set about employing methods such as creating grass grids, persisting for years, gleaning experience and gaining success one step at a time. In the past 20 years, he has planted over 200,000 trees such as Mongolian Scot pines and red pines on 160 hectares of sandy land.

Today, the once-shifting sand dunes have been transformed into lush artificial pine forests. Due to his dedication to afforestation and sand control, Hou was honored with the title of "National Outstanding Communist Party Member".

In 2021, he was invited as a representative to attend the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing.

"It's really not easy for us in Zhangwu to control sand. Only by passing on the torch from one generation to the next can we do this job well and solidly."

The hundreds of hectares of forests planted by Hou in Sihecheng town have now become a live teaching site for the Zhangwu Sand Control Spirit Cadre School. Students can participate in voluntary tree planting here and get involved firsthand in sand control and afforestation efforts.

Liaoning's sand control practice is an important part of China's Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program.

The program was launched in the late 1970s, covering more than 4.3 million square kilometers of land across 13 provinces. After decades of effort, the forest coverage in the Three-North region has increased from 5.05 percent in 1977 to 13.84 percent today. With the protection of the "Green Great Wall", sand and dust weather in northern regions has been decreasing.

Jiang Shengwei, deputy director of the Forestry and Grassland Administration of Liaoning Province, said that last year, Liaoning formulated the "Liaoning Province Horqin Sandy Land Annihilation Battle and Desertification Comprehensive Control Action Plan", proposing that by 2030, the vegetation coverage of existing sandy land in the province should reach over 80 percent.

 

An area that was once part of the Horqin Sandy Land has been transformed into a lush meadow by Hou Gui in Zhangwu county, Liaoning province. YAN DONGJIE/CHINA DAILY

 

 

Hou Gui at the Zhangwu Sand Control Spirit Cadre School. YAN DONGJIE/CHINA DAILY

 

 

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