Chinese desert fighter honored by FAO

Three Chinese women, including Yin Yuzhen, who has devoted more than four decades to combating desertification in northern China, were among 100 women heroes in agrifood systems and rural development honored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy, on Thursday.

"This prize doesn't belong to me alone," said Yin upon receiving the award from Qu Dongyu, director-general of the FAO. Yin added that the award also honored the "efforts of countless brothers and sisters that supported us".

Over the past four decades, about 46 square kilometers of sandy land around Yin's home in Uxin Banner of Ordos in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region has been rehabilitated, with over eight million trees planted through efforts involving Yin, her family, local communities and government support, according to China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

The other two Chinese honorees were Dong Minfang from Hunan province, who promotes mechanized farming and supports rural women through agricultural cooperatives, and Yu Jinxiu from Hubei province, who has trained over 30,000 practitioners of moxibustion therapy, helping to preserve traditional skills and create rural jobs.

In May 2024, the UN General Assembly designated 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer, aiming to recognize women's contributions to agrifood systems and to address persistent inequalities in access to land, finance, technology and decision-making. As part of the initiative, the FAO launched a program to honor women whose work has made a difference in agriculture, environmental protection and rural communities.

A special guest at the Rome ceremony was Ronald Sakolsky, a retired history teacher from the United States who was moved by Yin's efforts and raised $5,000 to support her tree-planting efforts in the late 1990s, thus beginning a friendship that has endured for about 27 years.

"Everything she gets, Ms Yin, she deserves," Sakolsky told China Daily. "She has worked very, very hard to take care of Mother Earth and to prove that the impossible is possible."

Their friendship attracted international attention after President Xi Jinping recounted their story during his remarks at a state dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, on Sept 24.

Xi said their story touches the hearts of many Chinese people and stands as a shining example of the friendly exchanges between the two peoples.

Sakolsky also said that their friendship demonstrated the potential for closer people-to-people ties between the two countries.

"Ms Yin and I are showing the world that Chinese and Americans can get along, but we are only two people and I hope other people want to be like us," he said.

"We live on one Earth. It is not a Chinese Earth or an American Earth. It is only one Earth ... so for the sake of mankind, we must find a way to get along. We don't have to be best friends. We just need to be friends."