Yin Yuzhen (left), Ronald Sakolsky (center) and Yin"s husband pose for a photo in front of a tree planted by Sakolsky 26 years ago, on August 24, 2026. Photo: Lin Xiaoyi/GT

　　On September 1, American teacher Ronald Sakolsky will leave China after a 10-day return visit, carrying with him memories of old friendships renewed.

　　His journey took him from Beijing to North China"s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Central China"s Henan Province, where reunions, embraces and tears brought a decades-old story of friendship between ordinary people in China and the US into sharper public view.

　　The story began with a barren stretch of desert that slowly turned green - and with a chance encounter more than two decades ago that neither side forgot.

　　In 1999, Sakolsky came to Luoyang, Henan Province, as part of a China-US teacher exchange program organized by the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE). There, he was deeply moved by the story of Yin Yuzhen, a local woman who had devoted her life to fighting desertification and planting trees in the Maowusu Desert.

　　At the time, Sakolsky did not know Yin. But after seeing her story on television, he felt compelled to help. He donated $5,000 to support her afforestation efforts and, the following year, traveled to the heart of the Maowusu Desert, where he planted saplings with Yin and her husband.

　　Today, 27 years later, those fragile seedlings have become part of a vast forest of some 50,000 trees.

　　The two lost touch over the years, but the memory of that encounter endured. In May this year, Yin launched a public campaign to find her old American friend. Tens of millions of Chinese internet users joined the search, and within 48 hours, the two friends separated by the Pacific had found each other again.