Elderly-made "bird costumes" Photo by Zhang Nan
A striking "bird costume," striking various exaggerated poses. Yesterday at Xuanwu Lake Park, 68-year-old Nanjing resident Cao Lian’an, with his silver hair, promoted his green travel philosophy to the public. Admirably, a year ago, Mr. Cao set off on a bicycle from Nanjing, traveled over ten thousand kilometers, and finally returned to Nanjing.
“We’re retired seniors—we can’t do big things, but we can still ride bicycles,” said Cao Lian’an and his three companions, all retirees from a Nanjing enterprise. Their “Green China Tour” cycling charity event had just returned to Nanjing from cities like Tianjin and Jinan on the 24th. According to Cao, the idea was born out of having free time in retirement coupled with serious environmental pollution, prompting them to do something for society. So they gathered fellow retirees from their workplace to organize the “Green China Tour” cycling charity event, using this approach to call on people to protect the environment.
In Cao’s mountain bike basket, two fluttering flags and a bouquet of flowers stood out prominently. The flags bore the slogans “Protect the Environment, Benefit Future Generations” and “Protect the Environment, Cherish Health.” Cao said these were his heartfelt wishes. It is understood that the four seniors’ “Green China Tour” cycling journey has covered nearly all provinces in China except Lhasa and Urumqi. They set off from Nanjing on October 29, 2012, passing through fifteen provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions including Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Hainan, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanghai, as well as China's Hong Kong and Macau. They returned to Nanjing on February 24, 2013, after nearly four months. Then, at the end of March 2013, they set off again toward Lanzhou, Taiyuan, Shijiazhuang, Jinan, and other places, returning to Nanjing on November 24, 2013.
Cao Lian’an said: “We have traveled through 29 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, covering a total of more than 14,000 kilometers, and the journey was not without hardships. The most difficult part was riding through Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan—mostly mountain roads, with very low temperatures in the early morning and evening, and the repeated temperature changes gave one companion pneumonia. Moreover, when riding near the border between Guizhou and Chengdu, there were too many mountain roads, so they had to push their bikes—climbing the mountains by pushing the bikes took six and a half hours.” Despite the tough ride, he was happy to be promoting environmental protection in such a low-carbon and environmentally friendly way.
During the ride, the four seniors also handmade “bird costumes” to use as team uniforms. “We designed a yellow warbler outfit, paired with bright flowers, using the vivid image of ‘birds singing among flowers’ to awaken and raise environmental awareness,” he said, pointing to his “bird costume.” “Birds, like humans, want fresh air and dream of a world filled with birdsong and floral scents. That’s why we wear ‘bird costumes’ to call on everyone to protect the environment.” (By correspondent Shao Yi and reporter Yu Fei)