The Virtual Foundation - your donation makes it happen

The Chinese American Friendship Forest

Region: China
Author: ECOLOGIA US
Consortium Member: ECOLOGIA US
Status: Funded and Ongoing Collected: $2430
Goal: To create a memorial for the three Chinese journalists killed during the accidental NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in May 1999. This project has no set budget. Your donation will add trees, one by one, to the forest. To date, a total of $2430 has been collected.
Comment: People from the United States found a way to build bridges to the Chinese people in the aftermath of the NATO bombing. This on-going project supports citizen-to-citizen international cooperation; see the Progress Report.

Project Background

Following the May 8, 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia by NATO forces, protesters took to the streets and assailed US Consulates in China, angered by what they interpreted as an act of military aggression against their nation. In response to the bombing and ensuing discord, the Virtual Foundation initiated the Chinese-American Friendship Forest project, as a gesture of reconciliation and regret. The forest will begin with the planting of three trees on May 22 to honor the three Chinese journalists killed during the accidental bombing - Shao Yunhuan, Zhu Yin and Xu Xinghu. Randy Kritkausky, Virtual Foundation president, traveled to China to announce the Chinese American Friendship Forest project and will help plant the first trees.

Project Description

Volunteers from the Virtual Foundation's partner organization in China, Green Earth Volunteers, will plant the first 100 trees for the project. Green Earth Volunteers will also tend the trees after the planting. The Chinese-American Friendship Forest is situated at the base of a mountain outside of Beijing, in an arid region deforested over one thousand years ago during the Ming Dynasty. The Virtual Foundation planting will be the first American reforestation project to be initiated in the region.

Planting the forest will take dedication and hard work; the trees - as well as the water needed to sustain them - must be carried up steep hillsides over difficult terrain. Local foresters have agreed to assist the Green Earth Volunteers and will dig the holes for the trees (which would take weeks otherwise, given the rocky soil) and supply water.

Project Budget

A donation of only $5 will purchase one tree and cover the costs for its planting and care.

This project has no set budget. The Virtual Foundation will accept donations to the project indefinitely, with the goal of implementing a large scale memorial tree planting in China.

Donors who have contributed, from May 1999 - present

Andrea Crescente
Anonymous (3)
Allan and Carolyn Harris
Lory Harris,on behalf of Colin and Jessica;
Josephine Hay
Willis Hay
Joe and Kim Ksyniak
Bonnie Mac Donald
David and Andy Nowakowski
Linda Oot
Joe Pierpont
Esther Mathews Schmidt
Charles Scott
Diane Schnaars
Lori Shemanski
Matthew, Sarah, and Bradley Sopinski;
Lydia Thompson, in memory of Nate Krueger;
Barbara Tinker
Thomas Walski
Clara Wolf
Kimberly Wolf
Richard Wolf
James Woodworth.