Arborist nurtures Fujian's natural assets

Skill honing

Yu's path into the profession began on a university campus. In 2015, Yu was a third-year student at Xiamen University, a school known for its lush growth of big trees. She tried a tree-climbing class one day and decided to stick with it.

She had participated in sports from a young age, so the physical demands of climbing came easily to her. "I picked it up very quickly," she said.

A trip to a competition in Hong Kong at the end of 2015 changed her understanding of the field. "What I learned in school were the basic things. In Hong Kong I saw many techniques, with more specialized gear and equipment. I never imagined people could make a career out of this. And I found it fascinating," she said.

In the years that followed, she used her own money to travel to Hong Kong and Taiwan for training and exchanges.

Seeing their daughter working in the sun and wind, doing something dangerous and physically demanding, Yu's parents kept on reminding her to take the civil service exam.

But something kept her in the trees. As a student, she had struggled with social interaction.

"I would get very tangled up about what facial expression to use, how to handle a situation, what mood to project, how to make others feel," Yu said.

In the trees, she found something different. "When I'm up there, I'm alone. But I feel surrounded by things full of life. It makes me relax. The trees have healed me," she said. "And with the skills I've learned, I can give them a different kind of treatment, help them stay healthier, help their wounds heal faster."