Brother Ding

Brother Ding, from Shangguan, Dali, is 68 years old. He likes the mountains and nature and walks briskly in the mountains. He has served for many years as a nature conservation NGO. He currently leads hiking and rural cycling in Longshouguan near his hometown Shangguan Town.

"I have been working in finance in Kunming for 40 years. My life was very monotonous and I was stuck in a routine of going from one place to another most of the time. Twenty years ago, the work atmosphere was too bad and I decided not to live in a negative environment anymore. So in 2004, I chose to participate in outdoor activities."

I quit my original job in 2010 and stayed at home for two years. Then a friend recommended me to work in a private enterprise, where I worked until retirement.

After I joined the outdoor activities, I would look at the map and go exploring whenever I had free time. I have walked most of the areas around Kunming. In the early years, I would hike for one day, then tried hiking for two days, and then hiking for seven days (because my parents were old and dared not hike for more than two days). I have participated in three 100-kilometer two-day hiking challenges.

In 2006, I read an article about organic vegetable cultivation in the Spring City Evening News, and I joined the organic vegetable cultivation (Green Kunming), which had a great impact on my life, making me more positive and proactive, and I devoted myself to many activities such as poverty alleviation and volunteer services. Looking back, I was helping others on the surface, but in fact I was helping myself.

I worked with Green Kunming (an NGO) on groundwater surveys near Kunming, and later spent eight months leading volunteers to survey ancient trees around Dianchi Lake. From 2009 to 2017, I led volunteers to patrol the 36 rivers that flow into Dianchi Lake on the last Sunday of every month, identify problems and report them to the Kunming Dianchi Lake Management Bureau.