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. 。欧洲联赛协会代表34个国家共53项男女职业联赛，包含欧洲五大联赛。正是因为国际足联拒绝沟通协商，该协会两年前便向欧盟委员会正式投诉，指控国际足联违反欧洲竞争法。舍费尔身兼瑞士联赛负责人、律师出身，他相信近期一系列丑闻会进一步佐证己方诉求，欧盟委员会几乎必然会针对国际足联的决策机制与治理模式启动调查。舍费尔态度坚决：因凡蒂诺必须下台。他指出，国际足联主席权力逐年膨胀，重大决议跳过受影响各方。FIFA Forward Enterprise商业私有化项目、去年未经国际足联理事会商议就设立和平奖、世界杯期间出现的政治干预事件，都构成丑闻。按瑞士法律，国际足联属于社团机构，主席与执委负有审慎履职义务，不经理事会通报就推出重大举措涉嫌违法，损害足球运动公信力。一个月前，因凡蒂诺的秘密商业项目FFE遭媒体曝光才被迫公开。
