Halmodun Village in Hejing County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,China,is protected by a “Green Great Wall” that resembles the boundless desert on the northwest border of the Taklimakan Desert. Villager Fu Zhizhou has dedicated 41 years of his life to planting 800,000 trees, creating this green belt that stands firm against the advancing desert.
Honored with the “Green Great Wall Medal,” which commemorates the 40th anniversary of China’s Three-North Shelterbelt Program, Fu is regarded as the “Modern Yu Gong”—the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains—who brought greenery to the desert.
According to Chinese media reports,Fu Zhizhou left Henan Province in 1965 when he was 22 years old in order to aid in the development of Xinjiang. He was met with a few mud homes strewn here and there and continuous sandstorms. Crops were almost hard to grow for years due to severe winds.
Fu’s conviction that trees might actually overcome the desert was reinforced when, after more than ten years, more than 100 mu (about 6.7 hectares) of poplars had obstinately developed into a forest.
