Liu Shuiyan, 77, a farmer in Xishan village, Pucheng, Shaanxi province, has spent the past 19 years greening the mountain next to his village.

His efforts to plant trees, thereby controlling soil erosion, and green the barren mountain were prompted by a mudslide in the summer of 1989 that damaged his farmland and destroyed the wheat harvest.

Liu has since sunk 10 wells, built more than 2,000 m of road and dug five irrigation channels for the 10,000 trees he has planted, which cover a 33-hectare area of the mountain.

(China Daily July 29, 2008)