HONG KONG — Ronald Sakolsky never thought his money would go this far.What was once a vast, dry desert in northern China has transformed into a lush, green forest of 50,000 full-grown trees, thanks in part to a $5,000 donation he made more than a quarter century ago to a local farmer and “sand-control worker” named Yin Yuzhen.Sakolsky, 69, a retired teacher from Pennsylvania, was amazed to see the transformation in China’s Inner Mongolia region last month when he visited for the first time in 26 years.“Seeing it with my own eyes, that was the biggest surprise,” he told Chinese state media.“I saw pictures, I was told all about it, but until you see it is when you realize that it’s real.”Sakolsky and Yin’s reunion last month has been held up by Chinese authorities as an example of how China and the United States, the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, can work together on global issues such as climate change.Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in Washington this week for a summit with President Donald Trump, mentioned Sakolsky’s story in his toast at a state dinner on Thursday, saying it “touches the hearts of many Chinese people and stands as a shining example of the friendly exchanges between our two peoples.”Sakolsky was teaching English on exchange in China’s central Henan province in 1999 when he saw a TV news report about Yin.
More than a decade earlier, the newly married Yin had started planting trees as a way to feel less isolated in her new home in the Mu Us Desert, also known as the Maowusu Desert (“bad water” in Mongolian).Moved by her story, Sakolsky raised $5,000, which was many times Yin’s annual income, so she could plant even more.They met in person in 2000, when Yin promised Sakolsky that she and her family would take good care of the saplings.Sakolsky and Yin at her home in Salawusu Village, top, and planting a tree in the Mu Us Desert together, below.Sun Ruibo; Lian Zhen; / Xinhua via Getty ImagesEarlier this ...