Years ago, Yin Yuzhen and "Saikaosi" took a photograph together. The photo was provided by the interviewee.
"Finally found! This fulfills a wish I've held for many years. For 26 years, I have actually been looking for him. Whenever I was invited to give lectures in other places or abroad, my presentation materials included his story and photo. I also asked many American friends to help search for him, but there had been no results. This time, by a twist of fate, I encountered two young female journalists, and they helped me find him in just a few days!" Early on the morning of May 18, Yin Yuzhen excitedly shared this news over the phone.
Recently, a news story titled "Desert Reclamation Heroine Yin Yuzhen Seeks Saikaosi" spread widely across the internet, moving countless netizens. In this fast-paced era, a story of seeking to express gratitude—spanning nearly 30 years and crossing oceans and deserts—has shown countless people faith and integrity more precious than gold, and a heart broader than the desert.
With the help of local media journalists, "Saikaosi," who donated $5,000 to Yin Yuzhen during her difficult times, was finally located. As the mists of time dissipate, this long-buried tale of great compassion, hidden within the yellow sands, gradually unfolds.
The Light of Hope Brought by $5,000
The protagonist of the story, Yin Yuzhen, is a veritable "desert conqueror." As one of China's Top Ten Women, a National Model Worker, and a Desert Control Model in Uxin Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, she has spent most of her life planting a sea of green in the heart of the Mu Us Desert.
In 1985, 19-year-old Yin Yuzhen married into Jingbeitang in Uxin Banner, Ordos, Inner Mongolia—a place surrounded by yellow sand. Her wedding chamber was a cellar half-buried in the sand, and raging sandstorms often blocked the door overnight. Yin Yuzhen told herself, "I'd rather die tired from planting trees than be bullied to death by the sand." Driven by this stubborn determination, Yin Yuzhen plunged into the desert. From 1985 to 1999, she and her husband managed to plant and sustain nearly 40,000 mu (approximately 2,667 hectares) of trees in the wasteland.
During the hardest times, when Yin Yuzhen had no money to buy saplings, she would work in exchange for them. Without vehicles for transport, she carried them on her shoulders and back. When planted trees were uprooted by sandstorms, she replanted them several times. Her hands became covered in bloody cracks, and the soles of her feet developed thick calluses from her desert control efforts.
"In the spring of 1999, I went to Beijing with the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Women's Federation to attend an award ceremony for March 8th Red-Banner Pacesetters. It was my first time in Beijing," Yin Yuzhen recalled. "After arriving in Beijing, I suddenly heard that someone wanted to meet me through the Women's Federation. I felt apprehensive and begged a comrade from the Federation's delegation to accompany me. When I went, 'Saikaosi' had a Chinese friend of his give me an envelope. Opening it, I found a stack of money I didn't recognize. Later, when I exchanged it for Renminbi, I realized it could be exchanged for so much!"
It turned out that "Saikaosi," who was teaching at Luoyang Foreign Languages University at the time, saw Yin Yuzhen's desert reclamation story on a television program. The resilient figure and stubborn determination of this ordinary Chinese rural woman left a deep impression on him. "Saikaosi" immediately decided to help her and donated $5,000.
More than twenty days later, "Saikaosi" and a large group of people came to Yin Yuzhen's home in the Mu Us Desert to meet her. "Saikaosi" was deeply震撼. He could not imagine that, under such harsh conditions, a seemingly frail rural woman could single-handedly contend with the vast desert. "'Saikaosi' didn't speak Chinese. At the time, a female translator told me he praised me for turning the impossible into possible, saying I was the most remarkable female farmer in China!" Yin Yuzhen recalled.
In that era, $5,000 was akin to a fortune. For Yin Yuzhen, who had to budget carefully even to buy a shovel, it seemed an astronomical sum. But Yin Yuzhen understood clearly that this was not just money; it was "Saikaosi's" recognition of her desert reclamation efforts, a weighty trust and expectation that transcended borders and language.
"He came from so far away and gave us this money because he saw our determination and action in planting trees to control the desert. This money must turn into trees, into greenery!" Yin Yuzhen told her husband.
That $5,000 transformed into truckloads of saplings planted deep within the Mu Us Desert. The seeds of goodwill sown by "Saikaosi" took root and sprouted under Yin Yuzhen's care and dedication. Now, more than twenty years later, that $5,000 has long since transformed into a vast oasis.
Just Want to Say "Thank You!" in Person
The trees survived, the desert turned green, and Yin Yuzhen became famous. She received various honors at home and abroad, moving from a remote sand dune to Beijing and onto the award podium at the United Nations. But deep in her heart, there was always an unfulfilled wish.
"I often look at this forest and think, if it weren't for 'Saikaosi's' $5,000 back then, this forest might have been interrupted, and I might not have persevered. Now my life is better, the trees have grown tall, but I haven't yet thanked him in person."
Due to the relatively落后 communication and transportation of that time, Yin Yuzhen only remembered he was a teacher at a university in Luoyang, Henan, and was American. That blurry group photo became her only keepsake.
As she grew older, this desire to find her benefactor grew stronger. On May 16, Benteng Media first released a video seeking the person—"National Model Worker Yin Yuzhen Seeks 'Relative' for the Trees, Calls Out to American Friend Saikaosi to Come to Inner Mongolia! 'Your $5,000 Has Grown into Over 50,000 Towering Trees.'" The video quickly gained traction online. Perseverance paid off, as journalists successfully contacted a key figure who accompanied "Saikaosi" on his visit to the Mu Us Sandy Land—"Saikaosi's" former colleague, Bai Fan, former Vice President of Luoyang Foreign Languages University.
At noon on the 17th, Bai Fan made a transoceanic call. On the other end was "Saikaosi" himself. Learning that the $5,000 he donated had now transformed into a vast forest, "Saikaosi" was filled with surprise and emotion,直言 he "couldn't wait" and was eager to return to China, revisit the Mu Us, and witness this green miracle with his own eyes. The phone call spanned thousands of miles, with Bai Fan simultaneously connecting Yin Yuzhen's line. After so many years, the牵挂 from both sides echoed across the distance. On both ends of the line, two kind-hearted individuals shed tears. Bai Fan stated that后续 they would travel to Inner Mongolia with "Saikaosi" for this reunion, delayed for over twenty years.
It turns out that "Saikaosi's" full name is Ronald Sakolsky, and he prefers to be called "Mr. S." Due to the passage of time and language differences, the "Saikaosi" in Yin Yuzhen's account was actually a phonetic variation of his name. The donor from back then is now an elderly man.
"Saikaosi" himself also holds刻骨铭心 memories of that time in Uxin Banner. He never imagined that a single act of kindness from him years ago could nurture such a磅礴 green miracle in a distant eastern desert. He even less expected that a Chinese farm woman would remember this kindness for nearly 30 years. He has already agreed to revisit the Mu Us next month to meet with Yin Yuzhen.
In fact, many friends from home and abroad have helped Yin Yuzhen. Yin Yuzhen特别 emphasized to journalists that Saikaosi is just their representative; she holds the kindness of many strangers close to her heart. She said, "Professor Liu Lirong, a Chinese American, published over 20,000 books for me, spending a lot of money. The Korean family of Zhao Sankui donated four to five hundred thousand Renminbi to me. There are also many international friends who认了 me as their干姐弟 or干姊妹."
Yin Yuzhen's story of寻找 "Saikaosi" has warmed countless people this early summer. $5,000 may have a price in the world of money, but planting it into the sandy sea and nurturing it with over twenty years of sweat and blood into an oasis is priceless. With her simple actions, Yin Yuzhen诠释了 what it means to "repay a drop of kindness with a spring of gratitude" and to "keep a promise worth a thousand pieces of gold,不负光阴."
Today, within Uxin Banner's Mu Us Sandy Land, through the green接力 of generations of Uxin cadres and masses, 8.3939 million mu (approximately 559,593 hectares) have been重新披上绿装, with a control rate reaching 85% and forest coverage rising to 32.92%. The past of "sand advancing, people retreating" is becoming the reality of "green advancing, sand retreating."
Desert control knows no borders; kindness knows no distance. This forest sea is a testament to humanity's warm守望. Transforming a sandy sea into an oasis, the miracle stems from unyielding perseverance; seeking old kindness across the years, the动人 lies in enduring affection. The story of Yin Yuzhen and "Saikaosi" will surely be like the wind-resistant poplars standing tall in the Mu Us Desert, forever engraved in the壮丽画卷 of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.
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