Ren Zhongyuan: Restore Saihanba land vitality and set a model of ecological protection in China

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From December 2 to 13, the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. China is one of the leading countries in the world in combating desertification.

Saihanba was a royal hunting ground in the Qing Dynasty, with rich forest resources and water plants. Nestled just 180 kilometers from Beijing lies Saihanba, a former royal hunting ground. Once lush and teeming with wildlife, it was a paradise for emperors. However, over time, large-scale reclamation and excessive logging left it barren. By the 1960s, its original forests were gone.As the winds picked up, they carried sands towards Beijing, triggering severe dust storms.In 1966, Beijing endured its worst dust storm, lasting 20 days with a total of 30 hours of intense sandstorms. At its worst, the sandstorm blotted out the sky, and the entire city was shrouded in a yellowish-brown haze. Traffic came to a halt, and the city fell into silence…

In 1962, Ren Zhongyuan took over the restoration of Saihanba. Ren Zhongyuan and 127 graduates from 18 provinces, along with local workers and officials, formed a team of 369 to build the forest farm from scratch. Despite enduring harsh conditions, including almost seven months of snow each year, their sense of fulfillment and comfort grows with every tree they plant. By improving the planting machinery imported from the Soviet Union, they adapted to the complex terrain of Saihanba and significantly improved the efficiency of afforestation. This innovative mechanized afforestation method not only greatly improves the survival rate of saplings, but also makes large-scale greening possible.

By the mid-1960s, large-scale mechanized afforestation was underway. Saihanba began to transform—each generation passing the green baton to the next, from planting to nurturing the forests, this legacy has evolved into the thriving modern forest farm we see today:A thriving76,000-hectare forest, has successfully reversed desertification and protected Beijing from sandstorms.  It exemplifies China’s dedication to environmental restoration and has earned the esteemed UN “Champions of the Earth” award for transforming barren land into a lush, green oasis.

After several generations of unremitting efforts, Saihanba has now become one of the largest artificial forest farms in the world, and the green ecological barrier effectively protects Beijing from sandstorms, making great contributions to China’s ecological and environmental restoration. The tenacity and dedication of Ren Zhongyuan and his team not only restored the vitality of this land, but also set a model for ecological protection in China.

Country:Beijing,China

Name：National Forestry and Grassland Administration

Website：https://www.forestry.gov.cn/c/sbj/sbgcjb/514501.jhtml

Contacts：Wang Jihong

E-mail：sanbeiju@sina.com