Its furtive appearance on the Weibo platform immediately emulated. For the past few weeks, the young Wang Jin, 23, has been adored on Chinese social networks, explains the South China Morning Post. However, he posted only 17 videos, which more or less always show the same thing: him, drinking water and eating a bun stuffed steamed, in the middle of the desert.
An enigmatic tree planter
Wang Jin’s style and appearance seem to be at the heart of his newly acquired celebrity. Her skin and hair seem attacked by the sand that surrounds him as far as the eye can see. His eyes are not the same color. When one is very dark, the other is almost gray.
But it is above all his job that captivates Chinese Internet users. Wang Jin is trees in the desert in the north of China, in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. A job that earned him a dreamy nickname: Prince of the desert.
The most beautiful deserts photographed by the Geo community
-Wang Jin lost his sight in his left eye when he was little
Over time and an interview in a Chinese media, Internet users ended up knowing more about Wang Jin. The young man and his parents come from the County of Liangshan, southwest of the very poor region of Sichuan. To earn money, the whole family has moved to inner Mongolia.
Wang Jin also explained his eyes, so amazing. If one of them is very clear, it is because it does not allow him to see. This blind eye was injured when Wang Jin was younger, by a tree branch. The young man explains that his family did not have the means to have him treated and therefore lost his sight on this eye. He explains that it prevented him from engaging in the army but that it does not bother him for his profession of reforestation.
Why is Wang Jin plant trees in the middle of the desert?
Chinese power launched the Great Green Wall project in 1978. The country was already aware of the risk of drought and extension of the Gobi desert on the rest of the country. To reverse the trend, Wang Jin and other thousand workers are responsible for planting trees in the middle of the desert.
The project, if the Chinese authorities are to be believed, is a success. The area covered with trees would now extend over 320,000 km² for 850,000 km² of meadow. The wooded extent increased from 5.05 % in 1978 to 13.84 % in 2024.
