30,000 City Dwellers Answer the Call to Green a Desert

When a university graduate returns home with expertise in desert control and a dream, good things happen. Zhong Jin launched the Plant a Tree in Minqin initiative in 2024, turning a local crisis into a viral moment that would transform Minqin County from a quiet agricultural pocket into a destination for urban volunteers seeking purpose.

Minqin County sits on China’s front line against desertification, a region where the landscape has been fighting back since 1950 through mass tree and shrub planting campaigns. But it wasn’t until a Chinese reality TV program called Become a Farmer put the area in the spotlight—following 10 urban youth cultivating 450 acres over 190 days—that Zhong Jin’s call for help gained real traction. The show’s success gave the county’s public welfare center an opening: they launched a volunteer registration portal, inviting viewers to experience what they’d watched unfold on screen.

The response was staggering. Between February and May, 30,000 people traveled to Minqin on their own dime. College students, parents teaching their kids about farming’s realities, and Become a Farmer fans descended on the remote area determined to plant 1 million trees. These weren’t casual day-trippers either. Volunteers faced sandstorms, rugged terrain, relentless sun, and cramped dormitories—the kind of hardship that either breaks a group or bonds them. By all accounts, it did the latter. The pit-digging and tree-planting wore everyone out equally, breeding what locals describe as a spirit of frontier camaraderie.

What’s remarkable is how the county capitalized on this momentum. Local entrepreneurs created curated travel routes guiding visitors through tree-planting sites and scenic areas, complete with cultural performances and live-action exhibitions showcasing Minqin’s landscapes and heritage. What began as an environmental necessity became an experience—a chance for urban dwellers to disconnect from city life and contribute to something larger than themselves.

The Plant a Tree in Minqin campaign stands as proof that when you combine environmental urgency with accessible entry points and genuine community support, people will show up. Thirty thousand of them, in fact, armed with shovels and hope.