Photo of the Ancient Pear Garden in Shichuan Town of Gaolan County, Lanzhou City. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Dubbed "the World First Ancient Pear Garden," the pear garden located in Shichuan Town of Gaolan County, Lanzhou City, once had 13,000 pear trees with ages of over 100 years. In recent years, due to deforestation and other reasons, the number of the trees has decreased to 9,000, which draws great attention from folk environmentalists.

Environmentalists formed by peasants, teachers and government officials came to the ancient pear park in Shichuan Town to advocate for its protection by taking photos and making posts on May 5.

The park has a history of over 600 years and the oldest pear tree is 400 years old, said Wei Zhuxin, the initiator of the activity. It's a valuable heritage left by forefathers, he added. In recent years, local peasants chopped down the trees to build stores, and many young people went into cities for jobs, therefore, the traditional planting techniques cannot be handed down and many of the trees withered and even died, Wei said.

"So we established a folk protection association and an online platform three years ago so as to advocate more people to treasure its cultural, relics and ecological values," he said. He also noted that improving peasants' income, realizing professionalized planting and promoting traditional techniques are the key to resolve the current problem.

Until now, the Lanzhou Municipal Ecology Protection Bureau has decided to allocate five hundred million yuan annually to protect the garden from this year on. It's the ecological miracle and wonder that belongs to humanity and deserves our protection, Wei urged finally.

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