The leaves that surround her are from maples, oaks, and dozens of other species, the result of an aggressive tree-planting program in the 1970s.

Three years ago, Yuan Longping led a program of planting rice in saline-alkali soil in areas, including Xinjiang and Heilongjiang.

In addition to searching the Amazon and establishing experimental plantations in Latin America, the program came up with some novel plans to produce rubber including planting Dandelions in 41 states.