Zhang Zhengxiang is an ordinary farmer who has voluntarily protected the ecological environment around Dianchi Lake in Yunnan Province for about 30 years. His constant and unselfish deeds earned him a place among the "Top 10 people who moved China in 2009."

Zhang Zhengxiang [China.org.cn]

Zhang was born in Fushan in 1948, a village on the banks of Yunnan's Dianchi Lake. At the young age of seven, he became an orphan and had to look after himself. Zhang says it was his hometown's mountains and lake that raised him.

Starting in the late 1970s, illegal logging began to savage the mountainous region. "Every day I saw many trees being cut down. As familiar trees would go one by one, I became greatly agitated," he recalls. In 1980, Zhang sold his pig farm and became a voluntary ranger. His confrontations with illegal loggers were tough, sometimes amounting to violence. At one point, he was even assaulted by someone with an ax.

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Zhang's wife never understood his motives and eventually left him with their three children in his custody. Yet Zhang's determination never wavered.

In 1982, he began to notice a lot of quarries and mines appearing in the mountains by the lake. He believed that this kind of exploitation would not only destroy the picturesque scenery, but would eventually cut the lake's water supply, causing the lake to lose its ability of cleaning itself up.

Zhang decided to take action. He began collecting evidence of exploitation and reported it to local authorities and the media. Viewing him as a pain in the neck, businessmen began making attempts on his life.

In 1998, Zhang was elected as a deputy to the local people's congress, a legislature body. His new position encouraged him to try even harder to solve the problem. His voice was finally heard. In 2003, authorities ordered a complete halt to all the quarries and mines in the mountains. It was a huge victory for Zhang.

Fighting illegal logging and mountain quarries aren't the only kind of environmental work Zhang has done for the region. Pollution around Dianchi Lake is another big battle in itself. Zhang once collected a 300,000-yuan (US$44,000) fund to do research and develop technology to control the growth of blue-green algae in the lake.

Zhang is currently working on restoring the forest cover of the quarry-savaged mountains. He has submitted proposals to the local government, although has yet to receive approval.

He was hired by local authorities to be an official ranger to patrol the area in 2004. In this way, he could earn a 600 yuan (about US$88) salary per month. However, Zhang resigned in 2009, on the grounds of sustaining neutrality in environmental issues.

Zhang's life as an environmental activist is not an easy one. Without any income, he has to rely on friends to support him. One of his sons, mentally disturbed by recurring life threats, is being treated at an asylum. Yet Zhang refuses to give up in his work to protect the environment and continues to patrol the area every day.

"I don't have any other pursuits right now. The only hope for the rest of my life is to see the water in Dianchi Lake become clean and the lakeside mountains green again. Only in this way can I leave the world without any regrets and worries," said the 62-year-old man.