Waste mines turned into green mountains in north China

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China’s environment has significantly improved over the past few years, thanks to the efforts of various sectors and local governments, in particular, have encouraged social capital to join in.

In the capital city of Taiyuan in north China’s Shanxi Province, Zhang Junping, a former entrepreneur, has spent over 600 million yuan to turn several waste mines into green mountains. Many feel amazed by how he achieved what at first seemed to be mission impossible.

Mount Yuquan in a shower of irrigation systems. /CGTN Photo

Back in 2009, Mount Yuquan on the outskirts of Taiyuan was a barren and rocky area that had been damaged by large-scale mining. Zhang decided to take the job of rejuvenating the area and hired many local workers, who planted trees to try and save the mountain.

Mount Yuquan about 9 years ago, with nearly 200 abandoned mines /CGTN Photo

Planting trees on the steep slopes. /CGTN Photo

After years of hard work, over 4 million trees were planted to cover 8 million square meters of Mount Yuquan, thanks in part to the spray irrigation systems densely distributed all over the place.

Now Zhang continues to invest money in repairing more of Mount Yuquan's damaged areas and planting more trees. He says repairing the damaged mountains to make them suitable for tree planting takes a lot of time and money.

Zhang Junping says spending on repairing the damaged area accounts for 90 percent of the total cost. /CGTN Photo

“It often takes three to four months to repair a damaged area. First, we use diggers to create a slope. Second, the workers will drill holes into the rocks. Third, the workers will send packs of soil and fertilizer up there. The last step is planting trees,” Zhang said.

60-year-old Zhang is determined to turn more barren Mount Yuquan hills green in the next five to six years. /CGTN Photo

For the past nine years, Zhang's team has been planting trees on about 100 rocky mountain slopes. Now they aim to turn another 70 to 80 bare slopes green in the next five to six years.

The pictures below show Mount Yuquan before and after Zhang and his team began their work.

CGTN Photo

Zhang enjoys his hours on the construction site. Last year, he even insisted on coming to work, even with a broken leg. He used to have doubts about the mission, but he chose to move forward.

Last Autumn, Zhang insisted on working in the mountains even when his leg was broken. /CGTN Photo

Zhang said, “At first, many of my friends strongly disagreed with my decisions. They didn’t believe the work could be done. But I believed if I couldn’t finish the work, my son could. If my son couldn’t, my grandson could. I’m sure it will be successful. You have to hold on to it and never give up.”

The Mount Yuquan Forest Park is expected to finish construction in around five years. Although it hasn’t reaped any profits yet and it’s hard to recover the cost, Zhang says he does not regret his choice. He says every tree is like his own child, and watching them grow is the happiest thing on earth.