As March 12, China's Arbor Day, came for the 29th time this
year, people across China have been thinking of various ways to
plant more trees and beautify the land.
A dozen blind people went to a park in central China's Hunan
Province on the day and planted 21 white pines to form a "Blind
People's Forest".
Led by young volunteers, the blind people came to Martyrs' Park
in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, carefully digging,
planting trees, filling up with dirt, watering and fixing up the
white pines, xinhuanet.com reported.
Mao Jia, a blind masseur who initiated the planting activity,
said though they could not see the green, they know a forest can
help produce cleaner air and make people feel good and
comfortable.
In Chongqing Municipality of Southwest China, two senior
citizens, who carelessly set a fire that left a mountainside pine
forest in ashes, asked the judges to allow them to plant trees as
their punishment instead of sending them to prison.
Qiu Tianshi, 64, and Zhou Xinlong, 67, went to Wuzhou Mountain
near their home in Zhongxian County to plant the last batches of
trees on February 8. They then asked local judges to see whether
they had met the required quota, the Chongqing Morning Post
reported.
Last year, the fire Qiu and Zhou set on Wuzhou Mountain caused
economic losses of 50,000 yuan ($6,410) to the local township.
Judges at the No 2 Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing
sentenced Qiu to four years of probation and Zhou to three years of
probation instead of three-year prison terms for both of them.
Cheng Shiyong, an officer in the Forest Police Department of
Zhongxian County, said the two men had finished their promised
work.
According to the State Forestry Administration (SFA), China
planted 5.23 million hectares of trees in 2006, bringing the
nation's forest total to 175 million hectares.
In 2010, the forest coverage will reach 20 percent in China, SFA
spokesman Cao Qingyao said. On March 12, SFA Minister Jia Zhibang
called for people to plant still more trees in China.
(China Daily March 16, 2007)