--- description: Desert fighter reunites online with U.S. friend title: China Daily - TIME - Partner Content - Desert fighter reunites online with U.S. friend image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6679b13aba45161/6a1fcc8b161662376f49c7d2/4._Desert_fighter_reunites_online_with_US_friend.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Desert fighter reunites online with U.S. friend  _United States history teacher Ronald Sakolsky (third from right) poses with Yin Yuzhen (center)in the spring of 2000, when Sakolsky raised $5,000 to help Yin and her husband plant trees and fight desertification in Maowusu, China’s fourth-largest sandy area. PHOTO BY XINHUA_ By DUAN JINXIAN and YUAN HUI A voice from afar spoke through the cellphone in the hands of 60-year-old Yin Yuzhen in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region: “It’s amazing! It’s amazing to me! I can’t believe we are talking.” The voice belonged to Ronald Sakolsky, 69, a retired high school teacher in the United States. Yin asked: “When will you return to China to see the green forest that has grown from the $5,000 you contributed years ago?” It had been decades since they last spoke, but like many such conversations between friends, it seemed perfectly natural to be picking up where they had left off. “I will be waiting for you in the desert,” she added. A video of their interaction, which was recently released online by a local media group, has touched the hearts of millions across China. Starting in the mid-1980s, Yin, a resident of Wushen Banner in Ordos, spent four decades reversing desertification and greening a stretch of Maowusu, the fourth-largest sandy area in China, by planting trees. Yin had long been searching for her “American friend” who raised money to support her afforestation work. Earlier in May, she sought the help of local media to find him. In an online video post on May 16, she said, “Sakolsky, if you see this, I would like to invite you to come back to China, where your $5,000 has grown into a large forest.” Netizens, including Sakolsky’s former students and colleagues, responded enthusiastically, which resulted in their brief reunion over phone on May 18. As part of a teacher exchange program, Sakolsky taught English at a school in Luoyang, Henan province, from 1999 to 2000\. During that time, he saw a television program about Yin’s sand control work and was moved by her resilient, unyielding spirit. Hoping to fund her afforestation efforts, Sakolsky wrote to many institutions in the U.S. An institution in Boston, Massachusetts, agreed to donate $5,000 for Yin’s work. The money was sent to her in cash through a Chinese organization. In 2000, Sakolsky traveled to Maowusu to meet Yin in person. What he saw was inspiring. Yin was planting trees in the desert using just a shovel and traditional shoulder poles. She tied young saplings, which were as thin as fingers, with hemp rope and carried them in bundles to be planted on the uneven ground. Between 1985 and 1999, Yin and her husband planted saplings across nearly 6,590 acres. Yin spent most of the money on buying saplings, but kept $1 as a souvenir. When Sakolsky left China after completing his teaching assignment, the two lost touch. Over the years, Yin stayed in Maowusu, planting trees each day. Her persistent work earned her recognition as a national model worker and national hero of desert prevention and control. In 2017, she shared her experience at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Maowusu covers about 16,294 square miles. Two-thirds of it is located in Ordos, and the rest extends to Shaanxi province and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. With the Great Wall lying in the south, the sandy land has long resisted reclamation. Through the efforts made by Yin and others, more than 2,158 square miles are now blanketed in green, and the forest coverage rate is about 33%. Speaking in an interview, Sakolsky was full of praise for Yin. “She is committed to her dream. She never gave up.” He said, “It really is a miracle to get back in touch.” On May 20, Inner Mongolia’s people’s association for friendship with foreign countries officially invited Sakolsky to “witness the growth of young saplings into dense forests.” Sakolsky confirmed that he would be coming to China in August to meet his old friend. He plans to visit the “forest miracle” he helped create years ago in Maowusu, in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [](https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/) ## China Daily Website - Connecting China Connecting the World Since its launch in 1981, China Daily has grown to become the nation’s leading English-language newspaper. With a combined print, online and mobile readership of more than 470 million, it serves a vital role in telling the world about China, providing valuable insight into the world’s second-largest economy. [LEARN MORE](https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/) China Daily - TIME - Partner Content - Desert fighter reunites online with U.S. friend ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/desert-fighter-reunites-online-with-us-friend/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/desert-fighter-reunites-online-with-us-friend/"},"headline":"Desert fighter reunites online with U.S. friend","datePublished":"2026-07-09T07:05:25.233Z","dateModified":"2026-07-09T07:05:15.128Z","description":"Desert fighter reunites online with U.S. friend","url":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/desert-fighter-reunites-online-with-us-friend/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/desert-fighter-reunites-online-with-us-friend/","name":"Desert fighter reunites online with U.S. friend"}}]}] ```