Ronald Sakolsky (center) reunites with sand fighter Yin Yuzhen on August 23, 2026 in Ordos, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Yin received his $5,000 donation and turn them into 50,000 full-grown trees. Photo: Lin Xiaoyi/GT

A long-awaited reunion that captured nationwide public attention unfolded on Sunday evening: American teacher Ronald Sakolsky and Yin Yuzhen, a model worker renowned for planting trees and combating desertification, reunited and embraced tearfully with overwhelming emotion at an airport in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, across 27 years and the separation of the ocean. 

In 1999, Sakolsky raised $5,000 to fund Yin's tree-planting initiative. The young saplings bought with the donation have since matured into more than 50,000 full-grown trees in the once-barren Mu Us Desert in Inner Mongolia. 

Yin waited at the arrival gate very early, the Global Times reporter observed, as she murmured English sentence she particularly learned for this occasion "Welcome to China my brother." She wore an outfit with green shade, as "green is the color of the Earth." 

According to Yin, she and her family has prepared for the reunion steamed buns, meaning "upward," and  vegetables and fruits picked from the land transformed from desert.

Yin's eyes were fixed on  the escalator, and wiped out tears multiple times during the waiting time as travelers come in groups. 

Sakolsky said in earlier interview with the Global Times that he looked forward to this reunion and cannot hold his tears when he thought of the moment. He was about to give Yin a hug when they meet. 

When Sakolsky finally appeared in front of Yin, both people's eyes welled up with tears. Stepping off the elevator, Sakolsky could barely contain his excitement, muttering "Oh my God, oh my God." They hurried toward each other and locked in a tight embrace at last - the long‑awaited hug 27 years in the making, the Global Times saw. 

"This is a dream come true, from a lady who is the hero of the story, not me," Sakolsky told the Global Times at the airport, barely holding his emotion. "She made a promise 27 years ago, and she kept her promise. I never thought I would see her again. It is a miracle." 

"Brother" is one of the words Yin specially learned to greet Sakolsky and the American friend told media that "we are brother and sister now. 27 years ago, we were just friends and acquaintances."   

So much has happened since then, but the important thing is many people have seen the story. And now they can also help to make China beautiful, Sakolsky noted. 

"When I hugged her the first time, she stood like this, she was very scared. Chinese women do not hug men especially foreigners in public. But this time is exception, we are brother and sister now," he said.