A tree lover with a deep bond, who volunteers to plant 500,000 trees
Zhu Dekui, 59, is a senior researcher at the Lu'an Municipal Party School and is now in a non-leadership position. The elderly man said that although he studied law and political science as well as classical literature, he has a special affection for trees. Zhu said his hometown is located by the Fenghe River in Huoqiu County, where many ancient trees have died over the decades, something that has always caused him great distress whenever he returned.
To bring green back to his hometown, starting in 2001, Zhu and his wife spent five years voluntarily planting more than 500,000 trees. Initially, they planted trees on over 100 acres along the dam of Chengxi Lake in Huoqiu, but they were all washed away by floods. Later, the couple planted trees on over 600 acres in Mengjiawei in the same county. These trees are now fully grown, and because of their deep love for trees, they only plant and never cut.
Tree lover so devoted he writes a eulogy for an ancient tree
This year during Tomb-Sweeping Day, while others honored their ancestors, Old Zhu honored a tree. Not long ago, a century-old ancient lantern tree in Yao Li Town, Huoqiu, unfortunately withered and died. Unable to sleep on Tomb-Sweeping Day, Zhu picked up his pen and wrote a heartfelt eulogy for the ancient tree, then went to pay his respects.
"A tree like a lantern, standing proudly against the sky... My earnest heart, my sincere feelings. Alas, farewell, rest in peace." Zhu Dekui said the lantern tree was a yellow chinaberry tree (Pistacia chinensis), nearly 200 years old, so large that two people couldn’t span its trunk. It originally grew in the countryside, and every spring its branches were lush and leafy, looking from afar like a giant lantern hanging at the edge of the sky. Elders called it the Lantern Tree, and Lantern Village got its name from the tree. In recent years, a road was built nearby, and dust filled the air all day. Digging for the roadbed damaged the tree’s roots and water supply, leading to its rapid death.
Hiking expedition to compile a self-made record of ancient and notable trees
Zhu said compiling the "Records of Ancient and Notable Trees in the Dabie Mountains" is simply to fulfill a lifelong wish. Over the years, he has witnessed the disappearance of many ancient trees in the Dabie Mountain region. A trip to Pizhou, Jiangsu in 2011 made him feel this mission could no longer be delayed. Zhu recalled that Pizhou, which claims to have 18,000 century-old ginkgo trees, was found by him to have most of them sourced from the Dabie Mountains. Many of these ancient trees withered and died due to “unsuitability to the environment,” and his heart could no longer find peace.
Yesterday, Zhu Dekui first visited towns such as Banzhuyuan, Shahe, and Wujadian in Jinzhai County, located in the heart of the Dabie Mountains, to investigate and document ancient trees. To compile this record, he plans to self-fund a trek through hundreds of towns across Hubei, Henan, and Anhui, creating archives for every ancient tree. He will use GPS to locate them and mark appropriate conservation measures.
Luo Wei, head of the Forest Public Security Branch of the Lu'an Forestry Bureau, said official records are based on information submitted by grassroots forestry departments and inevitably have omissions. Zhu’s mountain-crossing, tree-by-tree investigation will yield more comprehensive and detailed results, making it a valuable supplement to the official records—a tangible contribution to the protection of ancient and notable trees.
Luo Wei, head of the Forest Public Security Sub-bureau under the Lu’an Forestry Bureau, said that official records in local chronicles are compiled based on information submitted by grassroots forestry departments, which inevitably leads to some omissions. Zhu Dekui’s field investigations, conducted by trekking through mountains and examining trees one by one, yield more comprehensive and detailed findings, serving as a valuable supplement to the official chronicles — a tangible contribution to the protection of ancient and notable trees.