    A group photo from the 1999 donation ceremony, where Ronald Sakolsky presents $5,000 for afforestation efforts. Photo: Courtesy of Luoyang No.2 Foreign Language School
At 2:48 am on early Sunday morning, after a flight of more than 10 hours, Ronald Sakolsky arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport. As he stepped into the arrivals hall, he greeted the waiting reporters with earnest Putonghua "Wo hui lai le," meaning "I'm back."
The thrill of his homecoming had washed over him most vividly during the final moments of his flight. "When I saw the lights in Beijing as we were landing is when I realized that I am back in my second home."
Sakolsky, an American retired teacher from Pennsylvania, is visiting China from Sunday to September 1 for a journey that will take him to Beijing, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Central China's Henan Province. It is a reunion nearly three decades in the making.
That reunion began with a single act of generosity. In 1999, when Sakolsky arrived in China as a participant in a bilateral teacher exchange program, he was moved by Yin Yuzhen and her husband's tireless efforts to curb desertification in the Mu Us Desert in Inner Mongolia. He raised $5,000 to fund their local tree-planting initiative. The young saplings bought with the donation have since matured into more than 50,000 full-grown trees, transforming the once desolate, sandy wasteland into a thriving green landscape.
After decades of lost contact, Yin, a national model worker renowned for her desert restoration achievements, launched an online search for her American benefactor in May, hoping to reconnect with the man who helped launch her lifelong desert reclamation mission.
What followed was a remarkable wave of online support: within less than 48 hours, a nationwide search had tracked Sakolsky down. That swift effort led to their long-awaited virtual reunion, a video call that brought them face to face for the first time in 27 years.
Asked what he is most looking forward to about this journey, Sakolsky told the Global Times that "I want to see Ms Yin, see the forests, see the students I have not seen for almost 30 years, my colleagues. I want to see the Chinese people."
The trip itself felt like a dream he never thought would come true, he added.
Now, the dream is about to come true. Later on Sunday, Sakolsky will fly to Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the site of the transformative environmental project that bound his fate with Yin's all those years ago.
During his China visit, Sakolsky will join Yin in a new tree-planting activity. He will also hold exchanges and discussions with teachers and students from the Luoyang No.2 Foreign Language School where he once taught, and participate in official China-US teacher exchange events, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
As he prepares to see the transformed landscape with his own eyes, Sakolsky shared with the Global Times about how much China itself has changed over the past two decades. From photographs, he said, he had already seen the barren desert he remembered turn into lush green forests; he had also heard that Luoyang has become far more vibrant and beautiful.
"Hopefully the message gets out to the world that Chinese and Americans can work together and make a peaceful world," he said.
。    AI摘要      第11届“海峡诗会”在三明举行，70余位两岸暨港澳诗人采风交流。活动深化闽台及沪明文学合作，以诗歌搭建文化连心桥，共续同根同源文脉情缘。         6日至9日，第11届“海峡诗会”在三明举行，70余位来自海峡两岸暨港澳地区的诗人在新福建的万千风貌中酬唱论诗，共续同根同源的文脉情缘。    本届诗会以“为荷而来”为主题，与会诗人奔赴三明市建宁县、泰宁县开展实地采风，在绿水青山、客家烟火中汲取创作灵感。    在建宁县濉溪镇圳头村聚晟源果园，被网友昵称为“烧烤诗人”的温雄珍弯腰捡起了一颗从枝头掉落的玉梨。她笑着说：“它落在地上被我看到了，我就应该把它捡起来，这个缘分非常好。”     温雄珍来自广西贵港。贵港别称“荷城”，与建宁一样，都以种植荷花闻名。“贵港刚刚遭遇洪水，那里的人仍然不屈不挠地追逐着心中的美好画卷，这正是人赋予荷花的精神寄托，也是荷花赋予人的精神气质。

B | 这次诗会，我听说了建宁县2008年奋战冰灾的故事，在采风中，我读到了同样由荷而来的精神内核。” 中国作家协会《诗刊》社主编李少君此行作诗5首。在《泰宁古城有感》一诗中，他挥笔写下诗句“耕读诗书存道统，焕新境界我心求”。在他看来，经过全面小康的建设，华夏山乡发生了巨变，大家真正感觉到桃花源式的梦想正在新时代实现，这其实也特别需要诗人做证。

C | “海峡诗会”自2002年创办以来，已成功举办11届，足迹遍布闽山闽水。三明是改革开放后福建最早形成的地方诗群——“三明诗群”的重要创作基地。时隔10年，“海峡诗会”重回故地，见证的是“三明诗群”的别开生面。 “三明诗群”第一代诗人之一、永安市文联原主席赖微介绍，“三明诗群”是1984年前后组群，延续至今已有40多年。近年来，它呈现出老中青三代衔接紧密、县域子网活跃、理论创作并行的特点，从“山地禅意”转向“山水+乡土+大众文艺”三位一体。

D | 闽台情深。台湾《创世纪》诗杂志社社长古月表示，40多年前，“三明诗群”第一代核心诗人范方与《创世纪》诗杂志社洛夫一直有着深厚的友谊。范方的很多佳作都在《创世纪》诗杂志社发表，受到台湾诗友的热烈追捧。

E | 40多年来，杂志社成员与“三明诗群”的诗人仍保持着联系，不时以诗会友。本届“海峡诗会”，上海市作家协会作为主办单位之一，也派出了诗人参加。 1958年至20世纪70年代，为支援福建重工业基地及“小三线”建设，上海‌整体搬迁18家轻工企业‌至三明，‌逾万名‌上海职工及家属南下扎根。2022年5月，上海与三明建立对口合作关系。

F | 上海市作协党组成员、专职副主席高渊介绍，近年来，随着沪明对口合作全面深化，两地文学交流进入了机制化、常态化的新阶段。上海市作协多次组织作家、诗人深入三明调研交流，设立了文学创作基地。

G | 他表示，未来沪明文学交流机制将更加常态化、长效化。 “海峡诗会”是由《台港文学选刊》杂志社发起创立、福建省文联及下属福建省作协和其他相关单位主办的系列品牌活动。

H | 多年来，诗会先后邀约了台湾著名诗人余光中、洛夫、痖弦、郑愁予、席慕蓉以及海内外数百位诗人来闽交流，在海内外华文文学界产生了广泛而深远的影响。本届诗会，既有陈先发、曹宇翔等8位鲁迅文学奖得主，也有张晓风、詹澈、白灵（庄祖煌）等台港澳诗人，70余位来自海峡两岸暨港澳地区的诗坛老中青三代中坚力量，搭建起走心交心的文化连心桥。两岸一家亲，闽台亲上亲。在探讨诗歌创作之余，85岁高龄的张晓风还和《台港文学选刊》原主编杨际岚商讨出书事宜。