On a once-bare bank of the Ye River near Yeli village in Hebei province, northern China, stands a young forest planted by two men whom many employers had written off. Jia Haixia is blind. His childhood friend Jia Wenqi has no arms. Starting in the early 2000s, they planted and tended more than 10,000 trees together, and by 2015 the Associated Press put the total at over 12,000.
Their arrangement is often summed up in one line from Haixia: Wenqi is his hands and he is Wenqi's eyes. Here is how the partnership began, how two men with such different disabilities actually did the work, and why their story travelled around the world.
Who are Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi?
Both men grew up in Yeli, a village outside the city of Shijiazhuang. In Chinese names the family name comes first, so both share the surname Jia; AP reported that they are not closely related.
Jia Wenqi lost both arms at the age of three after an electric shock. He learned to do almost everything with his feet, and for a time even performed calligraphy that way. Jia Haixia was born with a cataract that left him blind in one eye, and in 2000 he lost the sight in his other eye in an accident at a stone quarry. In 2015 Wenqi was 53 and Haixia 54.
Work was hard to find for either of them. An International Labour Organization report from 2013, cited by AP, found unemployment among disabled people in China was more than double that of people without disabilities.
How the tree-planting began
Around 2001 Wenqi returned to Yeli to care for his father and reconnected with Haixia. He suggested they plant trees on the riverbank, a strip of land that flooded easily and offered nothing to the village. Under an agreement with the village, they paid no fee and could keep any income from trees they eventually sold. Reports differ on the size of the plot: early accounts said about three hectares, while AP said the village committee gave them nearly seven.
Their start was brutal. In the first year, around 2002, they planted about 800 trees and a drought killed almost all of them; one account says only two survived. They kept going.
The two men have been partners in goodness for over a decade
A typical day on the riverbank
Each morning the pair set out together, and the first obstacle is the river itself. Wenqi carries Haixia on his back across the shallow Ye to reach the plantation.
Because they could not afford many saplings, they mostly grew new trees from cuttings. Haixia climbs trees, feeling for suitable branches with his hands and cutting them, while Wenqi stands below and guides him by voice. Wenqi digs the planting holes with a shovel wedged between his cheek and shoulder, pushing it into the ground with his foot. He also fetches river water in a bucket with his feet, and a small canal now helps irrigate the trees. Some seedlings later came from the local forestry bureau.
The method was not always popular. In the early years they were scolded for taking branches from trees belonging to other villages.
What the forest has changed
Over more than a decade the riverbank filled with trees. Accounts of the project say the planting helped protect the village from flooding and drew birds and other wildlife back to the area. It also matters for the air: in 2015 China's environment ministry listed Shijiazhuang as the country's third most polluted city, and seven of the ten worst cities were in Hebei.
Money remained tight. AP reported in 2015 that the men had never earned income from the plantation and lived on modest state assistance for disabled people. Later publicity brought donations from individuals and charities, helping them pay bills and keep planting. They have said they hope eventually to sell some timber.
In their own words
The two men have spoken about the project with a mix of pride and realism. Wenqi told AP that "nothing is impossible to a willing heart", and added that while they grew trees, they also grew their minds.
Haixia has talked about what it is like to be overlooked. He said disabled people often feel inferior and are not taken seriously, so they have to depend on themselves. Planting trees gave them a way to prove their worth on their own terms.
In a short GoPro documentary about the pair, Wenqi looked further ahead: "Even after we're gone, they will see that a blind man and an armless man have left them a forest."
Why the story resonates
The story spread online in 2015 as a feel-good tale, but its lessons are practical. It shows how complementary strengths can solve problems neither person could solve alone. It is a reminder that ecological restoration often starts small and local, one cutting at a time. And it highlights how much talent is wasted when people with disabilities are shut out of work.
If you are inspired to plant trees yourself, start with native species suited to your soil and rainfall, ask a local forestry office or conservation group which land needs it, and plan for watering in the first dry seasons, the stage that nearly ended this project before it began.
Sources: Associated Press via Fox News, 1 May 2015; Now I Know: The Blind Man and the Armless Man Who Planted 10,000 Trees; Chinese name (Wikipedia). The story was first shared here via I Heart Intelligence.
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