Trees
China’s 40-Year, Billion-Tree Project Is a Lesson for the World
Its successes and failures provide an invaluable model for today's reforestation efforts.
A northern forest construction site in 2017.
Photographer: Yan Wang PrestonThis article is for subscribers only.
Few environmental campaigns in China have been so enthusiastically pursued or so controversial as its Great Green Wall.
Every spring, government officials, teachers, students, and company employees go on group tree-planting trips. State media single out forest workers for praise. Film stars line up to be “tree-planting ambassadors.” It’s a campaign in the vein of the old Communist propaganda drives—the workers uniting to dominate the forces of nature. March 12 is National Tree-Planting Day.