ASIA / PACIFIC
May 18, 2015
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
Blind man, armless friend plant thousands of trees in China
By Helene Franchineau
The Associated Press
ELI VILLAGE, China — A once-barren bank of the
Ye river in central China now has 12,000 trees
irrigated by a small canal, thanks to unlikely but
dedicated gardeners: two friends, one blind and one with-
out arms.
For the past 13 years, the two have planted and watered
cedar trees near their village in Hebei province in what
originally was supposed to be a commercial venture but
became a mission supported by local officials to improve
the air in a region more famous for its stifling pollution
than for its rolling hills.
The story of Jia Wenqi, 53, with no arms, and his blind
friend, Jia Haixia, 54, is one of perseverance, environ-
mental awakening, and of finding a path in a country
where it is difficult for the disabled to find jobs.
“This empty riverbank was only dry sand and pebbles.
It was deserted for many years. For normal people, it was
impossible to plant trees there,” Wenqi said in an
interview on the riverbank. “But as the saying goes:
Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.”
Every morning Haixia grabs onto the empty sleeve of
Wenqi, who leads the way to the riverbank and then
carries Haixia on his back across the shallow Ye river to
their plantation. Haixia climbs trees to prune them of
branches to be used as cuttings to plant new trees, using
his hands to feel for the branches. Wenqi digs holes for the
cuttings, tucking a shovel between his cheek and shoulder
to aim it and then using his foot to drive it into the ground.
He also uses his feet to fetch water from the river with a
bucket and pour the water around the newly planted tree.
“Just ask a normal person to work with his arms in his
pockets, like Wenqi!” Haixia said. “We handicapped
people have an endurance that normal people don’t
possess.”
The two childhood friends share a surname but are not
closely related, though they both grew up in Yeli Village,
part of the Hebei city of Shijiazhuang.
Unable to find work, they started their venture in 2002
with the modest goal of planting around 800 trees per
year. But a drought devastated their first crop, and they
have never made any money from the plantation. Instead
Y
they get by on modest government assistance for disabled
people. However, they have stuck with planting trees and
now feel they have a purpose: to improve the local environ-
ment.
Their village is part of the industrial hub of
Shijiazhuang city, which was China’s third-worst-
polluted city in a list by the Environment Ministry earlier
this year. Seven of the top 10 cities on that list were in
Hebei province, a heavily industrial and coal-burning
province.
People with disabilities are at a substantial
disadvantage in China, a highly competitive society
where anti-discrimination laws and policies to encourage
PLANTING FOR THE FUTURE. Jia Wenqi, left, uses his foot to
lift a bucket of water as his friend, Jia Haixia, stands nearby in Yeli village
near Shijiazhuang city in northern China’s Hebei province. For the past
13 years, Jia Wenqi, who has no arms, and Jia Haixia, who is blind, have
worked together to plant and water more than 12,000 trees near their vil-
lage. (AP Photo/Helene Franchineau)
hiring of disabled people are not enforced. Their
unemployment rates are well more than double that of
non-disabled people, according to a 2013 report by the
International Labor Organization. Income levels for
households with disabled people were less than half the
average of other households, the report found.
“We handicapped people often feel inferior. No one
takes us seriously and we have to depend on ourselves,”
the blind man said, his eyes gazing aimlessly.
Haixia lost his eyesight in a work accident in a stone
quarry in 2000.
Wenqi was electrocuted at the age of three and both
arms were amputated. He performed for many years in a
travelling troupe of disabled people in which he
demonstrated calligraphy written with his feet. Several
old photographs of his travels are pinned on the walls of
his dusty room in the basement of a house he shares with
his brother and sister-in-law.
He left the troupe in 2001 to take care of his dying
father.
Wenqi said their tree venture’s focus was initially
commercial, not environmental. “Gradually, as the trees
grew and by watching promotional programs on
television, I learnt that planting trees can improve air
quality and the whole environment. We grew trees, but we
also grew our minds.”
Their village committee has given them nearly seven
hectares to plant the trees, and the local forestry bureau
has chipped in with some tree seedlings.
“Our tree planting may not have much substantial
benefit for the present generation, but it leaves a green
environment to the next one,” Haixia said. “We are
physically disabled but mentally healthy. We have this
big dream in our heart to leave a stretch of green to our
children.”
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Cambodia welcomes home 10th-century statue of a Hindu god
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HNOM PENH, Cambodia —
Cambodia has welcomed
home a 10th-century stone
statue of a Hindu god that was looted
from a temple during the country’s
civil war and spent the past three
decades at an American museum.
The sculpture of monkey god
Hanuman was formally handed over
at a ceremony in Phnom Penh
attended by government officials and
the director of the Cleveland
Museum of Art, which acquired the
sculpture in 1982.
“If Hanuman were alive, we would
see a smile on his face showing his joy
at being here among us where he
belongs,” deputy prime minister Sok
An said at the ceremony in the Office
of the Council of Ministers.
The statue was stolen from the
Prasat Chen Temple in the Koh Ker
temple complex in Siem Reap
province, which is also home to the
famed Angkor Wat temples, said Sok
An, adding that it was shipped to
Europe and then the U.S.
“Now, after his long journey, he is
finally back home,” said Sok An, who
praised the museum’s initiative in
returning the statue and called on
others “to follow the example of
returning plundered treasures to
their rightful owners.”
Officials at the Cleveland museum
found last year that the statue’s head
and body were sold separately in 1968
and 1972 during the Vietnam War
and the Cambodian civil war. An
excavation showed the sculpture’s
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RIGHTFUL RETURN. A 10th-century Cambodian sandstone statue is seen inside the Council
Ministry during a ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Cleveland Museum of Art this month
handed it to Cambodia after it uncovered evidence that the sculpture was probably looted during
the country’s civil war. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
base matched a pedestal at the of the temple. The scene captured a
famous duel in Hindu mythology in
ancient temple.
“As more and more information which the warrior Duryodhana is
came to light, we became firmly struck down by his cousin Bhima at
convinced that the sculpture belongs the end of a bloody war of succession
here,” said William Griswold, the while seven attendants look on.
director of the Cleveland museum. He
“We in Cleveland have been
said that when the museum acquired fortunate to benefit from the presence
the piece, its connection with the Koh of Hanuman for more [than] 30
Ker temple was “far from certain.”
years,” Griswold said.
The Hanuman is the sixth “blood
The sculpture was displayed
antiquity” returned to Cambodia in constantly at the museum since its
recent years. The Metropolitan acquisition, and was a favorite among
Museum of Art in New York returned schoolchildren who imitated its
two, and one antique has been kneeling pose during tours.
returned each from Sotheby’s auction
“He has taught visitors to our
house, Christie’s auction house, and museum about the glories of Khmer
the Norton Simon Museum in civilization,” Griswold said. “While
Pasadena, California.
he will be sorely missed in the United
Their returns mark steps to States, we rejoice in his return.”
bringing back together nine figures
Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker
in Bangkok contributed to this report.
that once formed a tableau in a tower
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