Chinese President Xi Jinping referred to the story of an American teacher who donated money to help fight desertification in China as an example of friendship between China and the US. Speaking at a state dinner hosted at the White House by US President Donald Trump, Xi spoke of Ronald Sakolsky, who in 1999 gave US$5,000 to farmer Yin Yuzhen to plant trees in the Mu Us Desert in Inner Mongolia. Yin used the money to buy over 50,000 saplings, which in the decades since have grown into a forest. Sakolsky recently visited Yin in China to see what became of his donation. Xi cited this as a “shining example” of the friendly exchanges between Chinese and American people that he urged both sides to nurture.
Source: South China Morning Post
