Yin Yuzhen

Early life Yin Yuzhen was born in Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province, in a small village. As the fifth of seven siblings, she was accustomed to hard domestic work from an early age. Growing up poor, she explained, she did not have jewelry such as rings, necklaces, or earrings. Such luxurious items made no sense as her family could barely afford food to get by, let alone the clothes on their backs. Having not attended school, she was nineteen when her parents arranged her marriage to Bai Wanxiang, a resident of the Mu Us Desert.

She began her married life in a cave dwelling in the desert. She recalled the first time she set eyes on the dwelling, she wept for seven days, consuming only water. She often contemplated hanging herself but stated that she simply did not have the ability to do it. She did not have the necessary materials and there wasn't a tree in sight for miles. The Mu Us Desert, covering 48,300 square kilometres (18,600 square miles), is described as a sterile environment with one wind per year traveling from the spring till winter. In 2005, Yin was recognized as a model worker in China that safeguards the environment and quickly gained government support. Data according to the State Forestry Administration shows that the forest stratification has grown from 5.05% in 1977 to 12.4% in 2012 Many have attributed feats like this to Yin Yuzhen, who looks to expand her legacy onward and hopes to draw out economic opportunities from previously desolate land by harvesting mass amounts of economic crops.

Mentorship In 2014, American Donald Ashton Jones visited Yin and joined in her tree planting efforts. He learned to plant trees and worked alongside Yin to plant over 50 trees per day. Over 10 years, he planted over 2,000 trees in the desert. She stated that she had never seen that much money, and that with it she had purchased many saplings which have since grown into 50,000 trees. Similarly, a South Korean family donates money to the project and visits annually.

Awards and recognition Yin's afforestation efforts have been recognized by individuals such as Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, who, during the 2020 National People's Congress, described the actions of those such as Yin as a remarkable achievement and an overall improvement of the ecology in China. As well as being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by the Chinese Government, Yin has received over sixty awards on the Chinese mainland as well as abroad. In 2013 she was awarded the Somazzi Prize, awarded to those who exemplify efforts of astounding peace and achievement regarding human rights. Later in 2015, she was recognized by China and elected to be one of the Ten Persons of the Year to Devolution of Homeland China.