China’s forestation area and forest growing stock have continued to expand in recent decades. Nowadays China’s area of man-made forest ranks first in the world. Such achievements can be attributed to careful management and protection, as well as the hard work of the Chinese people.

Qin Ridong plants trees. (Photo/People's Daily)

One of these individuals worth mentioning is Qin Ridong, a worker from a forest bureau in north China’s Shanxi province.

"In the early 1990s, when I first started working, I could only occasionally see some leaf poplars appear in the barren mountains,” recalled Qin.

"Our task of afforestation has increased from a few thousand mu per year in the early 1990s to tens of thousands of mu a year, and our task of planting 180,000 mu (about 12,000 hectares) of trees was accomplished in a short period of time,” said Qin.

He added that “in recent years, we have taken the express train of ecological poverty alleviation and exported afforestation technology to help afforest the barren mountains in surrounding counties.”

In the recent 20 years, the quantity of afforestation in the region has gone up and so has the quality. Especially after 2008, the right varieties to be planted and the mix between varieties have been managed in a scientific way.

“At first, in order to improve the coverage rapidly, we generally planted small or old trees that can survive, but now, we have taken initiatives to plant needles and broad leaves and shrubs together, in order to make the tree not only grow, but also grow well, and grow into wood,” Qin Ridong said.