Embrace of cultures still best lesson on understanding

A lasting legacy

Sakolsky's story is perhaps the most famous example of the program's lasting impact.

In 1999, while teaching English at Luoyang Foreign Language School, now called Luoyang Foreign Language Junior Middle School, he saw a television report about Yin Yuzhen, a woman in Inner Mongolia's Maowusu Sandy Land who had devoted her life to fighting desertification. Moved by her determination, he raised $5,000 through a US charity to support her tree-planting efforts.

Yin used the money to buy tens of thousands of saplings. Today, those fragile seedlings have grown into a forest of more than 50,000 trees.

When Sakolsky returned to the Maowusu Sandy Land recently and stood before the grove named after him, the barren landscape he remembered had been transformed into a green oasis.

"She proved me wrong and made it possible," Sakolsky said in an interview with China Daily. "She's the one who carried the trees on her shoulder, dug into the sand to plant them, and watered them; she's the hero."

The two had lost touch over the years. In May, Yin launched a public campaign to find her old American friend. Tens of millions of Chinese internet users joined the search — and within 48 hours, the two friends had found each other again. Their reunion some 26 years later struck an emotional chord with millions of people and sparked an outpouring of admiration.

For Sakolsky, the most memorable moment of his return visit was not only Yin and the forest, but the former students he reunited with in Luoyang on Aug 29. "There are professors, doctors, entrepreneurs, bankers, and teachers. I was so proud of them," he said.

One student, Zhao Weijing, who attended the Beijing event on Aug 31, had kept a map of the US that Sakolsky signed and gave him in 1999.

"It's just a map, but it meant more to him than just a map. You could see it in his eyes and his tears," Sakolsky recalled. "I handed him America. He kept it."

Zhao, now a faculty member at the Civil Aviation University of China, had struggled with English as a student and was afraid to speak. Sakolsky noticed and constantly encouraged him. When he learned that Zhao loved geography, he gave him the signed map as a gift.

"Looking back on my journey, Mr Sakolsky is one of the people who influenced me the most," Zhao said.

Sakolsky repeated his catchphrase "students first" on stage, drawing laughter and applause from the attendees.

"A good teacher consumes himself or herself to light the way for others," he told the audience.

"The love of students and giving to others comes from the heart. And the reward comes years later, when they still call you coach, when they remember your quotes, when they tell you it was because of you."