Chinese President Hu Jintao and a girl water a tree during a tree planting event in Beijing April 2, 2011. Summary: Saturday was the 30th anniversary of China's volunteer tree planting campaign. Many top leaders took part in the event, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. This is part of a long running campaign to increase afforestation efforts. Hu also took this opportunity to encourage a conservative culture in China where sustainable economic and social development is achieved through public aid, technological breakthroughs, and government reform. 1.9 million people in Beijing alone took part in the tree planting campaign, a staggering number. Since 1981 the government has encouraged citizens from ages 11-55 to plant three to five trees a year. Since its inception, 58.9 billion (yes that's a b) trees have been planted throughout the country.
Significance: China may be one of the biggest producers of greenhouse gasses but as a result they also launch some of the biggest environmental projects in the world. Not only that, but as you can see from the picture, they're actually happy to do it. Such a campaign would most likely come to a shock in American's minds because we see only the worst in China but here they are again one upping us. If this trend of setting an exmaple for the world continues, China could easily knock America off its throne without having to fire a single shot. But that may not be a bad thing because if the rest of the world undertakes in projects like the one mentioned in this article, then global warming could be a thing of the past.
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