A special "Ford Centennial Award" was granted to a peasant in northern China's Hebei Province for his project addressing wildlife protection.

The peasant, named Shang Heyu, succeeded in increasing the number of egrets inhabiting the area around his village from eight to 2,000 over the past 35 years, during which he persuaded the villagers not to poach the egrets or steal their eggs.

Shang walked a distance of 20-30 km to buy fish for the birds when the rivers nearby dried up in recent years. And in order to improve the egrets' living conditions, Shang grew 13 mu (0.86 hectares) of willows at the foot of hills or banks of rivers.

At the end of October this year, Ford Motors Company investigated Shang's work and eventually decided to award its Ford Conservation and Environmental Grants, the largest environmental grant in China, to the peasant.

The Ford program aims to discover and honor individuals and organizations that work for and contribute to China's environmental protection and conservation.

Shang pledged to continue his efforts to protect the wild animals after being awarded 50,000 yuan (US$6,000).

Edited by chief editor Li Guixiang.