Afforestation hero's US friend to return to China at the end of August

Netizens who have been following the remarkable story of how Yin Yuzhen reconnected with Ronald Sakolsky finally have a date for their offline reunion, as the American has confirmed to China Daily that he will be visiting China in late August.

Yin's efforts to reach Sakolsky became an online sensation in May, when the former posted a video plea hoping someone could help her reach him. Yin is an afforestation hero who has been growing a forest in the desert landscape of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. In 2000, Sakolsky raised a $5,000 donation for her efforts.

On June 19, China's Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng invited Sakolsky and other American friends to spend the festival at the embassy in Washington DC. During the celebrations, Xie invited Sakolsky to visit China again and issued him a visa on behalf of the relevant Chinese authorities.

Sakolsky told China Daily that Bai Fan, the former vice-principal of Luoyang Foreign Language School, where he worked as an English teacher from 1999 to 2000, would be the trip's organizer.

Bai, who is now Party secretary and general principal of the Luoyang No 2 Foreign Language School Education Group, told China Daily that Sakolsky would arrive in Inner Mongolia on Aug 23 to meet Yin and see the forest she grew using his donation.

Tree planting will be a part of his trip to the region, and an unveiling ceremony for a monument erected in Sakolsky's name will be held, Bai said.

Yin, a resident of Uxin Banner, Erdos, has spent the last four decades reversing desertification and greening a stretch of Maowusu, the country's fourth-largest sandy area, by planting trees.

When Sakolsky first came to China through a teaching exchange program in 1999, he saw a television program about Yin's sand control work and was moved by her dedication. Hoping to fund her afforestation efforts, he wrote to multiple institutions in the US and finally procured $5,000.

In 2000, Sakolsky traveled to Maowusu to meet Yin in person. What he found was Yin planting trees in the desert using just a shovel and traditional shoulder poles. "When Salkosky comes this time, he will see that the desert has turned into an oasis," said Bai.

After the events in Inner Mongolia, Bai will accompany Sakolsky to Luoyang to visit his old friends, students, and former colleagues.

On Aug 30, as the last stop of his trip, Sakolsky will go to Beijing to participate in an event organized by the China Education Association for International Exchange.

"Sakolsky's last trip to China was in 2004, after his teaching program in Luoyang finished in 2000," Bai said. "At that time, China had not yet entered the era of high-speed rail ... I believe that his upcoming trip back to China will bring him a lot of surprises."

Bai mentioned that Sakolsky, who worked at a high school in Pennsylvania until retirement, is a big fan of China. "He always taught his students about China and praised Chinese people's friendliness," Bai said.

Bai intends to make a photo album documenting Sakolsky's trip to China and give him cultural gifts, including a traditional Chinese painting of peonies, a symbolic flower of Luoyang.