In Xi's footsteps: Achieving harmony with nature (8)

President Xi Jinping has always attached great importance to ecological conservation. Following in his footsteps across China, let's explore his vision of harmony between humanity and nature. (8)

On Aug 23, 2021, Xi visited the Saihanba Mechanized Forest Farm in Hebei province, where what was once a barren wasteland has become one of the world's largest man-made forests through more than six decades of efforts — an achievement Xi hailed as a "miracle".

Xi met a couple of forest rangers who had been stationed at a watchtower for over a decade, asking in detail about their daily work and living conditions. He praised their quiet dedication and selfless commitment to safeguarding Saihanba's forests.

Walking into the forest, Xi said that it truly felt different there and that the air was fresh. Standing beside a larch tree, he ran his hands along the trunk and said, "It's growing very well, with a straight trunk."

Talking with staff representatives of the farm, Xi said generations of workers there have forged through concrete actions the Saihanba Spirit, featuring staying true to the original aspiration, being hardworking and enterprising, and pursuing green development.

Today, Saihanba has a forest landscape of 1.15 million mu (about 76,700 hectares). Its afforestation community took home the UN Champions of the Earth award in 2017 for its outstanding contribution to the restoration of degraded landscape.

Xi said that Saihanba had nurtured one million mu of man-made forest, setting an example in the global history of ecological progress.