On Monday, August 25, Chinese anti-desertification heroine Yin Yuzhen and her long-time American friend Ronald Sakolsky embraced each other with tears in their eyes at Ejin Horo International Airport in Ordos City, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Sunday evening. Their emotional reunion after more than 20 years quickly went viral online.
In 1999, Ronald, an American teacher working in China, was inspired by the story of Yin Yuzhen, who had devoted herself to combating desertification and promoting afforestation in the desert. He raised US$5,000 to support Yin’s efforts. Today, the saplings purchased with his donation have grown into more than 50,000 mature trees. Last May, Yin found her long-lost American friend after posting a video online. Their friendship, which has transcended the Pacific, has become a vivid reflection of the friendly exchanges between the Chinese and American peoples.
This once again proves that people-to-people exchanges are the foundation of China-US relations. Friendship and cooperation between China and the United States are the shared aspiration of their peoples. A survey released by the Pew Research Center last April showed that the number of Americans holding a favourable view of China had “nearly doubled” over the past three years. A report released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in August found that 59 percent of Generation Z and 58 percent of millennials support friendly relations with China.
In May this year, Chinese and US leaders met in Beijing and adopted a new position of building “a constructive, strategic and stable relationship between China and the United States,” providing strategic direction for bilateral relations over the next three years and beyond. It is hoped that the friendship between the peoples of the two countries will deepen further.
Source: Cai-Alim-Wang Haiman, China Media Group.