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In 1985, Yin Yuzhen, who was 19 years old, at this moment, her young and beautiful face showed nervousness and uneasiness. His eyelids opened slightly, tears slipped quietly from the corners of his eyes, and the whole person rode on an earthy yellow vigorous horse, and he was still wearing a bright pink dress in the past, although the color had dimmed, but still exuded charming charm.
Her father, holding the reins of the horse tightly, carefully identified the road covered with yellow sand in front of him, and softly comforted her: "Si Nier, don't worry, Wan Xiang is a good boy with a kind heart, and he will treat you well." ”
Yin Yuzhen slowly opened her eyes, and what greeted her was a vast and boundless Mu Us Desert. Her heart is filled with fear, both longing to return to her familiar homeland and looking forward to the unknown future.
"Daddy, I really don't want to marry him!, please, take me home!" she pleaded with tears, but her father did not reply.
Yin Yuzhen was born in an ordinary farming family in Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province, with a total of six children, she is the fourth, so her father always affectionately calls her "Si Nier". Among the many sisters, she was praised for her beautiful appearance, exquisite craftsmanship, excellent cooking skills, and unique singing skills of northern Shaanxi folk songs.
originally thought that with these advantages, she would be able to find a wishful husband, but fate played tricks on people, and she was promised to Bai Wanxiang, a poor young man living in the depths of the desert.
Before embarking on the journey, Yin Yuzhen is full of beautiful expectations for the new life that is about to begin. However, when the carriage arrived at its destination, she was shocked by what she saw - a clay cave measuring only 4 square meters, this was her new home!
Yin Yuzhen couldn't believe her eyes, and the idea of escaping this place gradually took root in her heart.
Since then, Yin Yuzhen has begun a long and painful married life. When night fell, she refused to be close to her husband, and when cooking, she could only rely on simple ingredients such as sand cotton pong, sand pong seeds, and sand rice, and the occasional delicacies she could taste were nothing more than dead pigs and dead sheep picked up from other places.
Even more unbearable is the suffocating loneliness in the desert as the boundless darkness. Sometimes, there is not a single shadow of an outsider for a whole month, as if the whole person has been swallowed by this yellow sand.
After the death of Yin Yuzhen's father, it became an important turning point in her life. She knew that she could no longer escape from reality, and that she had to face this desolate desert bravely and strive to improve her living environment.
In the initial stage, she only brought back two young saplings from her mother's home, trying to sow the long-awaited green seeds in this parched land. Surprisingly, these two saplings miraculously survived, which undoubtedly gave her infinite hope and courage.
Back in the spring of 1986, Yin Yuzhen resolutely decided to start a large-scale tree planting campaign.
At that time, the only possession in the family was a three-legged disabled goat, but she did not hesitate to exchange it for 600 saplings. In the days that followed, she shuttled around the house day after day, taking care of these newborn lives.
Whether it's a storm, a scorching sun, or a harsh winter, these young lives are constantly challenging the limits of survival. Yin Yuzhen has always guarded them firmly, holding up a green shade for them with her own hands.
When more than 100 saplings finally survived all kinds of hardships, she gained tremendous confidence and encouragement, thus opening a magnificent chapter in the greening of her home.
However, the road to greening has not been easy. Due to lack of funds, Yin Yuzhen had to borrow 300 yuan from her mother's family to buy a few piglets and breed them, hoping to make a profit by selling the piglets and then buy more saplings.
Husband Bai Wanxiang also went all out, he went out to work to earn income, all his salary was used to buy saplings, and sometimes even offered not to pay for it, as long as the saplings in return.
In 1989, when Yin Yuzhen and his wife learned that there were a large number of unloved saplings in the village compound, they did not hesitate to borrow three cows and rush to the distant nursery overnight.
However, on the way back, the sudden wind made Yin Yuzhen tired and hungry, and she could only hold on to the oxtail and move forward in the yellow sand. What's even more terrifying is that the crazy wind blew the saplings down the hillside again and again, Yin Yuzhen burst into tears, but she still gritted her teeth and persevered, and straightened them again and again with both hands.
In the face of many difficulties, Yin Yuzhen never gave up. With her perseverance, she persistently pursued the green dream buried deep in her heart.
After more than ten years, Yin Yuzhen has always been firmly committed to the great cause of home greening. She stuck to the forefront of desertification control and afforestation, and with her tenacious will and unremitting exploration, she finally made more than 60,000 acres of barren land full of vitality.
In the face of this wild desert, Yin Yuzhen did not simply retreat, but made great efforts to explore and practice, and finally formulated a set of effective governance strategies of "fortification at all levels, step by step". With decisive determination, she began to plant a variety of trees in front of and behind her house that could stabilize the sandy soil, such as sand date trees, sand willows, and sheep firewood, and gradually spread this initiative to a larger area, like a stirring wave, to regain the lost territory bit by bit.
The process was full of hardships, and Yin Yuzhen and her husband Bai Wanxiang faced challenges together. They have experienced countless baptisms of storms, and the yellow sand is so thick that people can't breathe. Every time there is a setback, they will seriously sum up their experience, find out what the problem is, and then carry out new experiments and innovations again. Every small step forward can give them endless motivation.
It is with this firm perseverance and wisdom that Yin Yuzhen and his wife have opened up a green channel full of vitality in this barren desert. What was once a barren land has now become an oasis of 10,000 acres, full of lush trees, and the people have returned here. The birth of this "green kingdom" is not only the result of their unremitting pursuit, but also a vivid embodiment of the harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature.
Yin Yuzhen's feat of greening in the desert quickly attracted wide attention from all walks of life, and her perseverance and indomitable spirit deeply touched every audience. Mr. Sey Kowski of the American Free People's Foundation personally came to this barren land, not only generously donated $5,000 to support the greening work, but also personally participated in the tree planting activities to express his support for Yin Yuzhen's cause.
He Xinqiang, a young man from Xinjiang, also traveled thousands of miles to bring precious cantaloupe seeds, and lived in Yin Yuzhen's house for two months, devoting himself to the cause of afforestation and seedling cultivation with his wife. Ms. Chen Shuqin, a retired expert from Beijing, was also deeply moved by Yin's story, having traveled to the desert four times to bring not only the support of tree seeds, but also her willingness to carry out research on space breeding for the project.
In addition, there are dozens of letters from all over the country, which fully proves that Yin Yuzhen has received the warm attention and support of the general public. Although she was over half a hundred years old and didn't even know a word, these words of encouragement were like nourishing nectar, nourishing the firm faith in her heart.
Not only that, many well-known universities from all over the country, such as Xi'an Jiaotong University, Tsinghua University, Peking University and Beijing Forestry University, have arranged for students to visit and study in Yin Yuzhen's village, and enthusiastically participate in the construction of rural greening, generously donate money to plant trees, and contribute their own strength!
These ambitious young people seem to have been injected with new vitality, giving Yin Yuzhen endless confidence and encouragement.
However, only the effort can be reaped. Yin Yuzhen's husband, Bai Wanxiang, unfortunately contracted severe pneumonia due to long-term overwork, and Yin Yuzhen, who was engaged in intense work, also experienced a life-and-death dystocia under high-intensity pressure.
However, none of this can shake their firm belief in the cause of greening, and they are willing to pay the price of their lives to nurture the future of this homeland.
Yin Yuzhen has won many national honors such as the National "38" Green Medal and the National Model Worker for her outstanding contributions to the greening of her hometown. For this ordinary peasant woman from a poor background who doesn't even know a word, this honor is undoubtedly the greatest recognition and encouragement for her.