Barren Hills Turn Green: A Yan'an Miracle

1 Located in northern Shaanxi, Yan'an is surrounded by rising hills. At the foot of one of these steep hills live Wang and his wife. They work on 1.3 hectares of land, growing apples. The 500 plus apple trees the couple grow have made the family better off.

2 "Twenty years ago, we used to grow corn, grains, potatoes and beans. But the crop harvest often failed to fetch us much. Hard work only brought us a small income. Thanks to the government's support, we now have a big orchard of our own," says Wang.

3 Wang's family is one of the thousands that have benefited from the government's grand project of reforestation. The harsh natural conditions in Yan'an had been against the villagers since ancient times, so the reforestation revolution was meant to change the situation. The transformation of Yan'an began in the late 1990s and it took more than two decades of hard work to grow a forest on the dry land.

4 To encourage the villagers to plant more trees, apple trees were introduced and apple tree seedlings were sometimes given free to villagers. As many villagers, like Wang and his wife, had never planted apple trees before, experts would come to help when the planting season came. Apple-growing families in need could also receive government financial support every year.

5 Besides technical and financial support, it also took patience and perseverance from the locals to succeed. In a place as dry and lacking in water as Yan'an, it was difficult to grow trees in one try, and it was often necessary to replant trees five or six times to ensure they grew healthily. In some hilly areas, in order to plant trees on the steep cliffs, villagers had to put the seedlings in baskets on their backs and climb up the hill on their hands and knees.

6 Nevertheless, by carrying forward the famous Yan'an Spirit, the Yan'an people fought the harsh natural conditions with determination and courage. Their efforts paid off in the end and Yan'an was honored by the country for its reforestation achievements.

7 Terraced fields on the mountains have been made more solid by trees. The once barren mountains are covered with green, turning the brown and yellow into a green landscape. Apples grown in the hilly Yan'an region are very sweet thanks to a large difference between day and night temperatures, and are thus well-received at home and abroad. Last year, Wang's orchard saw a huge harvest. The popular Yan'an apples enabled Wang's family to earn an income of 120,000 yuan, nearly ten times more than growing grain crops.

8 "Our hills are now green with apple trees. We have bought a car and an apartment in the town. We are confident our lives will get better and better," says Wang.

9 Indeed, the green hills and clean waters of Yan'an today have not only improved the local ecological environment, but also speeded up the process of making the locals better off. From barren land to today's green surroundings complete with the fragrance of fruits, Yan'an has managed a remarkable transformation, setting a successful example of protecting China's ecology.