American teacher reunites with Chinese environmentalist 27 years after helping fund desert forest

An American teacher has reunited with a Chinese environmentalist 27 years after a chance encounter led him to support her efforts to combat desertification in northern China.

Ronald Sakolsky, now 69, returned to China for his third visit and met Yin Yuzhen on Sunday (23 August 2026) at an airport in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, where the two longtime friends embraced in an emotional reunion.

According to Xinhua, Sakolsky first learned about Yin in 1999 while working as an English teacher in China.

He was moved to tears after watching a television report about Yin's efforts to fight the spread of the Mu Us Desert by planting trees.

A donation that helped grow a forest

Sakolsky subsequently spent two months raising US$5,000 to support Yin and her husband’s tree-planting efforts.

At the time, the couple were working in harsh desert conditions, painstakingly planting and caring for young saplings to restore vegetation to the barren landscape.

The Global Times reported that the trees bought with Sakolsky’s donation have since grown into a forest of more than 50,000 mature trees, transforming parts of the once sandy landscape.

Bai Fan, who was then the vice principal overseeing international affairs at Luoyang Foreign Language School, accompanied Sakolsky to the Mu Us Desert 27 years ago to deliver the donation.

Bai recalled seeing Yin water the tiny, finger-thin saplings by hand, using ladle after ladle of water.

Sakolsky had worried at the time about whether the young trees could survive the harsh conditions.

The resulting forest became one of the most significant reminders of what began as a small act of support from a visiting teacher.

27-year reunion

Sakolsky arrived in Beijing early Sunday after a flight of more than 10 hours before travelling onward to Ordos.

Speaking to the Global Times, he said he had looked forward to seeing Yin, the forest, former students and colleagues from his time in China.

Yin arrived at the airport early to await him and had prepared English phrases for the occasion, including “Welcome to China, my brother.”

When Sakolsky finally appeared, both became emotional before embracing at the arrival hall.

“This is a dream come true, from a lady who is the hero of the story, not me,” Sakolsky said.

He said he had returned partly to see the forest that grew from his donation and to revisit Luoyang, where he had taught during the China-US education exchange programme.

From desert wasteland to green landscape

Yin had also prepared steamed buns, fresh vegetables and fruit for her old friend, with some of the produce coming from land that had been transformed through the desert-reclamation efforts.

She wore green for the reunion, saying that green represented the colour of the Earth.

Over the decades, the landscape around the Mu Us Desert has undergone major changes through extensive afforestation and desertification-control efforts.

The transformation also became a symbol of the long-term impact of environmental restoration, with the trees supported by Sakolsky's 1999 donation now part of a much larger green landscape.

A new chapter for their green mission

The reunion is not only a look back at what was achieved nearly three decades ago.

Sakolsky and Yin also planned to revisit the desert and plant new saplings together.

They also intended to recreate a photograph taken 27 years ago, when Sakolsky, Yin and Bai stood together in the desert surrounded by the barren landscape.

For Sakolsky, the journey has brought the relationship far beyond the friendship that began in 1999.

“27 years ago, we were just friends and acquaintances. We are brother and sister now,” he said.

Bai, who drove more than 850 kilometres from Luoyang to Inner Mongolia for the reunion, also brought traditional Luoyang handicrafts as gifts for Sakolsky.

The three friends’ return to the desert and plans to plant new saplings mark another chapter in a story that began with one teacher being moved by a television report — and choosing to help.