More than 70 teachers and students from 11 countries, including Mongolia, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, gathered to plant trees in the Ordos Engebei Ecological Demonstration Area in Ordos city of Inner Mongolia autonomous region on April 13.

At the tree-planting site, everyone wielded shovels, digging tree pits under the guidance of technical experts, placing pre-prepared nutrient buckets into the pits and planting trees, before backfilling the soil and watering the plants.

After more than an hour of bustling activity, 200 jujube trees found their new home in the desert.

"This is my second time planting trees here. Seeing the trees we planted last year thriving and growing fills me with great joy. Today, I've brought more classmates with me, hoping to contribute to desertification prevention and environmental protection," said Bai Chuan, a student from Sudan who is studying at Inner Mongolia University of Technology.

The tree-planting event for international students in the Ordos Engebei Ecological Demonstration Area was jointly organized by the information office of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Government and the Inner Mongolia Department of Education.

To date, eight such sessions have been held, with over 700 students from both China and abroad sowing the seeds of friendship and planting the hope of a greener future in the sandy lands of Inner Mongolia.

Situated within the Kubuqi Desert in Dalad Banner of Ordos city, the Ordos Engebei Ecological Demonstration Area covers a total area of 300,000 mu (20,000 hectares).

Through the tireless efforts of generations of desert control workers and volunteers from home and abroad, the once vast expanse of yellow sand there has now transformed into a green oasis, with over 70 percent of its land now covered in greenery, marking a historic shift.