Delegate with T-shirt promotes forest farm

An Changming, a delegate to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China from Hebei province, brought a white T-shirt with special meaning to the gathering.

An, who is Party secretary of Saihanba Machinery Forest Farm in Hebei, told Hebei Daily that the shirt is a souvenir specially made for the 60th anniversary of the farm.

Saihanba was a royal hunting ground during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), but by the late 1950s it had degraded to barren wilderness, according to Xinhua News Agency. In 1962, the forestry ministry decided to build a forest farm to block the southward movement of sand.

"You can see that the number 60 on the T-shirt has three colors — yellow, green and blue — representing the vast, barren wasteland of the past, today's immense forest and the improving ecological environment in the forest," An was quoted as saying.

He added that the three major colors reflect the consistent efforts and achievements of Saihanba foresters over the past six decades.

With a current forest area of about 76,700 hectares, Saihanba has become a national forest park and nature reserve, as well as an important ecological shield for Beijing and adjacent regions, Xinhua reported.

The report delivered at the 20th CPC National Congress on Sunday made An feel the weight of the mission on his shoulders, especially "pursuing green development and promoting harmony between humanity and nature".

"The report provided clear development thought and showed the way for our new journey," he said.

According to An, about 444 hectares of trees were planted this year, including five broad-leaf species such as birch, oak and mountain ash. The aim is to transform the artificial forest into mixed multilayer forest with various ages of trees, he said.