Nine-year passion: American youth brings green to Inner Mongolia desert

Nine years ago, Donald Ashton Jones, an American youth from Florida, embarked on his tree-planting journey in the Mu Us Desert, one of the biggest sandy land in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.　

After watching a documentary of Yin Yuzhen, the 58-year-old Chinese desert control model, Ashton decided to visit her and join her efforts to protect the environment. Ever since then, he came back to plant trees with locals every year and even got his Chinese name Yin Yifan from Yin Yuzhen. 　　

Yin Yuzhen, a native of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, moved to Salawusu, a remote village in the Mu Us Desert, after getting married.　The Mu Us Desert in north China's Ordos Plateau spans parts of Shaanxi and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and is one of the four major sand lands in China. In 1985, Yin Yuzhen decided to start planting trees in the desert. Over the past 39 years, Yin and her husband have turned 70,000 mu (about 4666.7 hectares) of desert into oases.　

After his first trip to the Mu Us Desert, Ashton came back every year to plant trees. In 2017, he brought his wife here. In 2019, he spent three weeks in the desert and planted nearly 1,000 trees. 　"She is so dedicated and works so hard to change the planet we live in. I feel extremely encouraged, " the American youth said.　

As Ashton embarked on a new journey to continue his studies and work, he said he would bear in mind what he has learned during the trips.　

(Reported by Cui Boqun; Edited by Ma Yuxuan)