Cultivating a love of nature

A thick canopy of leaves and branches ensures that a particular orchard in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is a favorite hangout every summer.

As the sweet smell of plums, apricots and apples wafts along, aided by the cool breeze, drawing a steady stream of visitors to the orchard in Karamay's Baijiantan district, an elderly man is seen doing the rounds of the estate on a scooter. Sometimes, he stops to water the seedlings or prune the grass, determined to ensure every single sapling reaches its full potential.

Visitors come to pick plums, apricots, apples and other fruits while enjoying the cool and fragrant smells in the orchard. They often see the elderly man at work, showing his determination to oversee the fruition of his efforts.

Some visitors might even know that the location of this shimmering forest was once a garbage dump, and that it was the man, Wang Yanming, who planted the trees many years ago, creating the shade they can now all enjoy on hot summer afternoons.

Wang oversees the greening work, planting trees and flowers, and often helps people to remove trash from the dump.