[Kemapreedasse]

2012-06-28 09:06 | Xinhua

BEIJING - It is said that faith can move mountains. And this appears true in the case of a
farmer in northwest China who turned the dusty hillsides into fertile land.

Shi Jianquan, a 71-year-old farmer from Lintao county in Gansu province, spent more than
10 years transforming a bald mountain covering more than 10,000 mu (666.67 hectares) into
productive land.

Lintao is arid. The county is part of Dingxi city, which is one of China's poorest regions.

Thirty years ago, United Nations experts said Dingxi and surrounding areas lacked "basic
conditions" for humans to survive.



However, the locals have had to carry on. And they have been trying to do something impossible,
like the "foolish old man" who moved mountains in an ancient Chinese myth.

In the story, Yugong smashed apart rocks, dug up the ground, and transported the earth to
the seaside in baskets.

His neighbors laughed at him, but Yugong said, "Even when I die, I shall have sons surviving me.
My sons will beget me more grandsons, my grandsons in their turn will have sons. My descendants
will go on forever, but the mountains will get no bigger. Why should there be any difficulty in
leveling them?"

The god of the mountains was moved by Yugong's sincerity and helped him level the two
mountains.

Mao Zedong wrote an article "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains" in 1945, saying
he believed that "any task could be accomplished through sheer will."

Shi faced the same dilemma as Yugong when he signed a contract to manage a piece of barren
mountain land.

Shi moved to the mountain, and only returned home every few months. He grew crops, fruit and
trees and bred sheep and cattle on the hillside.

Later, the villagers expressed their surprise when the arid land turned green. Shi profited financially
from his hard work.

"Even when I die, my offspring will continue to plant trees," Shi said.