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$5,000 grew into a forest: American donor returns to China to reunite with desert reclamation partner_我的网站

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    A group photo from the 1999 donation ceremony, where Ronald Sakolsky presents $5,000 for afforestation efforts. Photo: Courtesy of Luoyang No.2 Foreign Language School
At 2:48 am on early Sunday morning, after a flight of more than 10 hours, Ronald Sakolsky arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport. As he stepped into the arrivals hall, he greeted the waiting reporters with earnest Putonghua "Wo hui lai le," meaning "I'm back."
The thrill of his homecoming had washed over him most vividly during the final moments of his flight. "When I saw the lights in Beijing as we were landing is when I realized that I am back in my second home."
Sakolsky, an American retired teacher from Pennsylvania, is visiting China from Sunday to September 1 for a journey that will take him to Beijing, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Central China's Henan Province. It is a reunion nearly three decades in the making.
That reunion began with a single act of generosity. In 1999, when Sakolsky arrived in China as a participant in a bilateral teacher exchange program, he was moved by Yin Yuzhen and her husband's tireless efforts to curb desertification in the Mu Us Desert in Inner Mongolia. He raised $5,000 to fund their local tree-planting initiative. The young saplings bought with the donation have since matured into more than 50,000 full-grown trees, transforming the once desolate, sandy wasteland into a thriving green landscape.
After decades of lost contact, Yin, a national model worker renowned for her desert restoration achievements, launched an online search for her American benefactor in May, hoping to reconnect with the man who helped launch her lifelong desert reclamation mission.
What followed was a remarkable wave of online support: within less than 48 hours, a nationwide search had tracked Sakolsky down. That swift effort led to their long-awaited virtual reunion, a video call that brought them face to face for the first time in 27 years.
Asked what he is most looking forward to about this journey, Sakolsky told the Global Times that "I want to see Ms Yin, see the forests, see the students I have not seen for almost 30 years, my colleagues. I want to see the Chinese people." 
The trip itself felt like a dream he never thought would come true, he added. 
Now, the dream is about to come true. Later on Sunday, Sakolsky will fly to Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the site of the transformative environmental project that bound his fate with Yin's all those years ago.
During his China visit, Sakolsky will join Yin in a new tree-planting activity. He will also hold exchanges and discussions with teachers and students from the Luoyang No.2 Foreign Language School where he once taught, and participate in official China-US teacher exchange events, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 
As he prepares to see the transformed landscape with his own eyes, Sakolsky shared with the Global Times about how much China itself has changed over the past two decades. From photographs, he said, he had already seen the barren desert he remembered turn into lush green forests; he had also heard that Luoyang has become far more vibrant and beautiful.  
"Hopefully the message gets out to the world that Chinese and Americans can work together and make a peaceful world," he said.
。    章思远          最近，加拿大政府突然炮制了一出颇为令人恶心的“人权闹剧”，以所谓“严重侵犯人权”为由宣称制裁中方有关人员。

二 | 这出荒唐闹剧显然是临时炮制，看似冠冕堂皇，却再次让世人看清楚加拿大的“三无”特性。         一是无是非。中国高度重视尊重和保障人权，走出了一条顺应时代潮流、适合中国国情的人权发展道路，人权事业取得历史性成就。

三 | 当前中国新疆和西藏社会和谐稳定，经济蓬勃发展，人民安居乐业，正处于历史上最好的发展时期。国际社会对此有目共睹。可偏偏加拿大不仅熟视无睹，还毫无是非地“鹦鹉学舌”，翻炒所谓“强迫劳动”“任意拘押”世纪谎言，用虚假的剧情、蹩脚的套路、险恶的用心栽赃抹黑中国，粗暴干涉中国内政。         二是无骨气。

四 | 加拿大政府为何选择此时上新“闹剧”？无它，“畏美症”又发作了。面对所有加拿大输美商品可能被加征高额关税的威胁，加拿大慌了，高层“闪现”海湖庄园求美“高抬贵手”。但是它不仅没得到任何积极承诺，却被揶揄为美国第51个州。没想到加拿大却将心思盘算到了中国头上，企图通过污蔑抹黑中国献媚取宠，换取美“网开一面”。但打“中国牌”可治不好加拿大的“畏美症”，奴颜婢膝恐怕只会招来更加肆无忌惮的欺辱，为世人耻笑。         三是无资格。加拿大常以“人权卫士”自居，高调扮演“人权捍卫者”角色。可极具讽刺的是，加拿大本国的原住民仍在遭遇系统性种族歧视和不公正待遇，大批原住民儿童在寄宿学校中被虐致死，“瘾君子”和流离失所者在街头随处可见。面对自身劣迹斑斑、问题成堆的人权状况，加拿大视而不见，无能为力，却想借人权问题抹黑中国形象，转移焦点，完全是打算了算盘，必将招致中方的有力回应和坚决反制。         一个“三无”加拿大，有什么脸面充当“人权教师爷”，有什么资格担任“人权裁判官”？!奉劝加拿大政府好好照照镜子，不要再搞这种双重标准、贼喊捉贼、倒打一耙的闹剧了。如果加拿大政府“打扫干净自己的屋子”之后还有余力，倒是不妨拿出点勇气，谴责自己那些真正侵犯别国人权的盟友，或者拿出点真金白银为真正有需要的地方和人民贡献一点“正能量”。         (作者是国际问题观察员)。

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