Zhang Yingshan shows the certificate of National Model Worker he was awarded at home in a forest farm administered by Wumahe forestry bureau in Yichun City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, June 3, 2021. Throughout his life, Zhang Yingshan, 65, has worked with trees for over 45 years. Following the step of his father, Zhang became a forestry worker at the Wumahe forestry bureau in 1975. Nine years later, he opened the bureau's first family-run forest farm, planting 30 hectares of trees each year. From 1981 to 2011, Zhang and his wife Yan Yuping planted around a million trees on the ridge of the Lesser Hinggan Mountains. After retiring at the age of 55, he keeps inspecting trees and cutting down weeds. "When I go into those forests and see how fast they grow, I'm really pleased," Zhang said. "Those trees are like my own children." The couple spends most of the time in a cottage deep inside the mountains, as it is convenient to plant and tend trees. "I will devote all of my efforts to the trees," Zhang said. (Xinhua/Xie Jianfei)
