Li Yunsheng

Li Yunsheng is a Chinese man known for his reforestation efforts. Residing in Youyu County in Shanxi for seven decades, Li and the people of Youyu have conditioned their lives around the cause of afforestation. At 65 years old, Li Yunsheng began planting hundreds of trees around Matou Mountain. Born at Matoushan Village in a harsh desert climate, Li lived in an exposed barren land deprived of life and desolate in nature. The difficulty of the environment made it toilsome to cook and boil water, forcing Li and his family to eat foods simple in nature that were flower-based and drink water that was left untreated.

Early career Li had been discharged from the military after being stationed in the People's Liberation Army in 1984. He soon found work as a driver, eventually establishing his own driving school. Living in the village with his wife and three children, Li found that the land was harsh and unforgiving, and they struggled to get by. In 2002, the Youyu Government relocated 20 households in the Matoushan Village due to these remote, barren conditions. However, Li felt as though he could not part with the village. Rather than leaving and relocating himself and his family, he instead opted to stay and improve the overall atmosphere of the village and the sandy Matou Mountain. However, Li had trouble finding support for his passion, as family members and friends mocked him for spending all his money on shrubs and pines in order to fix the soil. Recently Li has taken up a breeding business that has allowed him to turn a profit on this land by earning upwards of 300,000-500,000 yuan of profit as well as his cattle business made possible by the road into town. The soil surrounding the county has become more fertile in nature as well as boosting the business dealings of Shanxi Youyu Tuyuan Industries. With the improvement of the environment, the company has been able to plant and harvest good quality scallions and even make a substantial profit from them, which was not possible years ago when Li first began.