This year marks the 30th anniversary of China's national aid program for the Xizang Autonomous Region. Xizang's Xigaze used to be barren, and local officials were not confident about planting trees until Shandong's Weifang City developed forest areas to improve the ecological system in Nanmulin County. Zheng Songwu reports.

Trees in over 2000 hectares of land have been planted in the northern bank of the Yarlung Zangbo River in the past two decades by cadres from Shandong's Weifang – a city famous for developing forest industry to develop the economy.

It's no easy job to plant trees on the plateau because of the high evaporation rate. Nanmulin County was barren in 2002 when the first cadres from Weifang were deployed to the place. Locals had tried to develop forest areas earlier but failed.

LI LIANPING, Cadre to Aid-Xizang from Shandong, Nanmulin County, Xigaze City "The most difficult thing was the way the locals thought. They had been planting trees for years, but they didn't take care of those. They didn't carry out disinsection measures properly, and sometimes they fed the leaves to herds of animals as they believed the trees would not survive. So, we then decided to change their thought process."

The cadres started to plant trees in the center of the city first, creating a demonstrative area.

ZHENG SONGWU, Nanmulin County, Xigaze City "This is where the cadres from Shandong's Weifang City planted trees in Xizang's Xigatse in 2002. This proved that it was possible to plant trees on a large-scale in the plateau – which is nearly four thousand meters above sea level. That gave the locals confidence, and they started working with the cadres to develop forest areas here."

The cadres and locals later planted trees on the sides of a road connecting the northern bank of the Yarlung Zangbo River and the city, which is 40 kilometers long. After gaining sufficient experience, they began to develop a demonstrative forest in the northern bank of the Yarlung Zangbo River in 2014 by planting populus trees, Xizang willows and sea buckthorns.

95% of the trees in some 2000 hectares of demonstrative forest survived. 60 farmers were hired to take care of the trees with regular watering, disinsection and trimming.

TSERING DROLMA, Head of Ema Township, Nanmulin County, Xigaze City "Before cadres came to our town, this area looked like the Gobi Desert. Sand traveled a lot when the wind blew, and drivers had to use headlamps while driving – so as to be able to see. Now, as you see, there is a vibrant forest, and no sandstorm bothers us."

LI LIANPING, Cadre to Aid-Xizang from Shandong, Nanmulin County, Xigaze City "After the ecological system was improved, we helped farmers develop 270 hectares of high-standard farmland – planting crops like potatoes to increase their incomes. For the farmers taking care of the trees, we invited experts to train them. So, when other townships start forest-development projects, these farmers can contribute, share their skills and also increase incomes."

Now there are over 2000 farmers from Nanmulin County working in a forest-development project in Lhasa. With the hard work of the cadres from Shandong and the locals, both ecology and economy will continue to benefit. Zheng Songwu, CGTN, Xigaze, Xizang Autonomous Region.