On April 7, 2012, over 200 environmental volunteers participated in a cleanup event for outdoor trash on Fragrant Hills organized by the "Nature Friends Mountaineering Team." The "Fragrant Cleanup" is one of the team’s regular environmental initiatives. Over the past seven years, what began as a small group of dozens has grown into a collective of hundreds. At 10:30 a.m., the event officially kicked off, with volunteers and team members divided into five routes to ascend the mountain, conducting a thorough cleanup along approximately 10 kilometers of firebreaks and hiking trails.
Since the official mountain paths within Fragrant Hills Park are maintained by sanitation workers who collect litter, this event was held on an unofficial trail known among hikers as "Little Shambhala." Although this path falls into a "no-man's land" of management, it is still frequented by many hiking enthusiasts, resulting in considerable litter along the way.
Qu Zhixing speaks to reporters about the outcomes and future plans of this "Fragrant Cleanup" event
After the event, Qu Zhixing told reporters that a total of 40 large bags of trash, weighing around 300 pounds, were collected during this "Fragrant Cleanup." In the days to come, the Nature Friends Mountaineering Team will continue to organize weekly mountaineering environmental actions, bi-monthly large-scale environmental activities in and around Beijing and other provinces, and an annual large-scale long-distance public welfare environmental hiking event lasting about 15 days. They also aim to promote environmentally friendly behavior in outdoor hiking through continuous professional research, analyzing the composition of outdoor waste and the harm it causes to nature, in order to more vividly advocate for eco-conscious mountaineering practices among the public.