Son takes the relay baton

Zhao noticed an area of wasteland in a forest farm, in which flowers cannot grow because they become waterlogged in the summer. He wanted to try to turn it into a nursery garden to cultivate saplings and succeeded.

In 2004, Zhao suffered from a stroke and couldn't plant trees any more. He said his goal still had not been reached and one million more tree saplings needed to be cultivated on the mountain.

Zhao refused to lie in bed all the time but kept working in the nursery garden. It was a miracle that he recovered so well from the stroke. "I didn't choose to lie down, I saved myself."

Zhao and his wife select high-quality tree saplings. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Later in 2006, Zhao went to his wife's hometown to visit their relatives in Shandong province and brought back 43 rare tree saplings and two kinds of flower seeds, which he planted in the garden.

On the third day after planting them, the trees sprouted. Zhao shouted with excitement, "they are alive!"

In 2011, the 73-year-old Zhao gave his son, Zhao Jingchun, a flag on which he wrote "Voluntary Tree Planting" in the hopes that his planting efforts will could be inherited.

To date, Zhao's will — to cultivate a million tree saplings — has been achieved by his son and his actions have inspired more and more people.

Zhao takes a look at saplings cultivated in the nursery garden while he is still recovering from a stroke. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]