BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Standing on a hillside, 46-year-old ranger Huang Xiaobin looks down at the lush landscape that surrounds his village in the remote mountainous areas of the southwestern Jiangxi Province. Terraced slopes that were once barren are now filled with cedars and pine trees.
The landscape has changed a lot since Huang's grandfather, the first ranger in his family, took the job in 1951. At that time, the fields were just sparsely dotted with bushes.
Inspired by the idea of turning barren hills to green ones, Huang's father and Huang picked up the batons in succession.
'The landscape looks completely different,' said Huang Xiaobin, who has spent 25 years planting trees and taking care of the forest. 'It's worthwhile,' he said simply, despite the harsh environment and heavy workloads.
Thanks to hundreds of thousands of devoted rangers like the Huang family, China has made huge headway in reforestation over the past decades, contributing enormously to global efforts in fighting soil erosion, air pollution and climate change.