Autumn in Beijing is like a flame that burns out the heat of summer and also dyes the mountains on the outskirts of Beijing a fiery red color. From the city to the west, the mentougou mountains are lined with peaks with an average altitude of more than 1,000 meters. At noon on October 25, on the Zenjian Road in Western Beijing, Zhang Shuhe led a tree planting team of more than a dozen people and was walking towards the hillside where there was no road. They were a group of tree-planters deep in the mountains, and trucks took them along with the saplings to the side of the winding road, and the tree planters unloaded the saplings, and five or six saplings were bundled into bundles, carried by people, breaking through the lush jungle and climbing all the way to the top of the mountain.
Zhang Shuhe, a 62-year-old tree planter. Beijing News reporter Wang Ying photographed
The farthest is five or six kilometers of mountain roads
No more than a repaired flat road, the slope of the hill is almost 70 degrees, and under the feet are rough sand, large and small gravel, and raised tree roots, and after a long time, the tree planters have carved out a narrow and winding path on the hillside, about three feet wide, and can only pass by one person, lined with weeds and small trees higher than the waist.
On this road, the tree planters carried saplings on their backs and held the pickaxe for planting trees in their hands, and walked very fast, about five hundred meters of mountain road, and they only walked for about ten minutes, without stopping for a moment. "The more you walk, the more experience you have, and you can exercise."
The tree planter carries the saplings up the mountain. Beijing News reporter Wang Ying photographed
Zhang Shuhe, 62 years old, has been planting trees for more than two years, and when he goes up the mountain, he is always at the bottom of the line, "I am a little slower than them, but I can also keep up." ”
The people who planted the trees climbed up in a column, and if someone in the middle paused slightly or walked faster, the overall pace would be disrupted, and at this time, it was also extremely dangerous. Zhang Shuhe said: "Some roads are steeper than this, it is not easy to walk, and if you slip under your feet, you will fall directly and can't stop." ”
The road up the hill is steep, and the tree planters are lined up in a row, and the pace should be consistent. Beijing News reporter Wang Ying photographed
Tree planters walk through the mountains and forests bit by bit, carrying dozens of pounds of saplings on their backs, relying only on a pair of old cloth shoes to climb the slope. "This road is not very long, all of a sudden we can come up, we walked five or six kilometers at the farthest, all this kind of road, it takes a long time." Zhang Shuhe's cloth shoes are camouflage high-top, and it can be seen that they are a new pair of shoes, and the laces are tightly tied together, "Just changed, the previous pair was ground into rags." ”
Planting trees is not just manual labor
Climbing to the top of the mountain, Zhang Shuhe gasped for a moment and allocated the planting area to several members of the tree planting squad.
Some of the younger team members claimed the more distant mountains and hurried into the bushes. "Look more at your feet and use a pickaxe to plan hard." Zhang Shuhe shouted in his throat.
When planting trees, one hand carries a sapling and the other holds a pickaxe. Beijing News reporter Wang Ying photographed
Zhang Shuhe unloaded the sapling on his back and sat on the hillside to watch the sky, the sun was hanging high, there was no shelter, the sun shone on his dark skin. Although it was already the end of October, Zhang Shuhe did not stop wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hands. "It's autumn now, it's okay to do this job, it's a bit cool, and sometimes I can't stand it in the summer."
Their daily work began early in the morning, at 6 o'clock in the morning, hurriedly ate breakfast in the makeshift dormitory down the hill, and then took a car into the mountain and worked until 5 or 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
This time they were responsible for planting almond trees, oval leaves with small serrated edges, but not piercing, hardy and drought-resistant. The tool used is also very simple, only a pickaxe, one end is pointed, the other end is flat shovel-shaped, suitable for hard ground. The soil on the mountain is hard and mixed with many stones. Zhang Shuhe said: "Sometimes it is impossible to cut it, and when we go down, we will know that we have touched a stone." There was no way but to stagger and dig to the side. "There is really no suitable place, so you can only cut the stone, at this time, you can use the tip of the iron pickaxe."
The only tool for planting trees is this pickaxe. Beijing News reporter Wang Ying photographed
Planting trees on the hillside, not paying attention to the rows, the ground that can be dug up can become a new home for the saplings. "Come over here! This is the shady side of the mountain, and the soil will be much softer! Zhang Shuhe couldn't sit still, stood up and shouted at the people on the slope, "Don't dig blindly!" Save yourself some effort! ”
Haven't thought about retiring yet
As the pickaxe moves up and down, the tree planter clears the surrounding rubble, removes weeds, and digs a hole the size of a football to put the saplings in.
Zhang Naiyu is a member of the tree planting squad, Zhangjiakou Zhuolu people, 56 years old this year, his two daughters are married, usually in the home into the mountains to collect wild herbs to make a living. This season, the herbs are not very good to pick, so they come out to work and earn some money to subsidize the family. "A person can plant 70 or 80 trees a day, take two hundred dollars, and earn some pocket money."
Planting trees in the deep mountains does not have much technical requirements, but the physical demand is very high. Zhang Naiyu said: "The people who plant trees on the mountain are all old people, and there are very few people under the age of 50 to do it, they have no experience of heavy physical labor, and they can't eat this suffering." We are different, when we were young, who did not do more hard work than this? ”
From time to time, a cool breeze blows from the other side of the mountain, but the sweat on the forehead of the tree planter has never dried. Zhang Shuhe cut a pit and planted a good tree, "We farmers who have the idea of retirement, we can work." With that, he picked up the pickaxe on the side and walked toward the bushes.
Beijing News reporter Chen Lu photographed Wang Ying
Edited by Zhang Shujing Proofreader Lucy