CHENGDU, July 5 (Xinhua) -- In early June, with thick dossiers in hand, Xu Yixin, former mayor of Jianmenguan Township, and her nominated successor, Wang Jiang, moved methodically from tree to tree along the timeworn bluestone road of Cuiyunlang, a renowned corridor of ancient cypresses in southwest China's Sichuan Province, cross-checking their records against each towering specimen.
"Although this ancient cypress has received special protection, we cannot afford to be careless. Regular patrols must still be strengthened," Xu urged. "Understood. I'll make it a priority," Wang replied, jotting it down in his notebook.
On May 27, Xu was named Party secretary of Jianmenguan, promoted from mayor, while Wang, 34, took over the mayor's post. Local rules require the outgoing and incoming mayors to formally hand over the 905 ancient cypresses under the township's care.
"This is one of the first major tasks in our new roles. We've already completed the handover of nearly 500 trees," Xu said.
"The whole process will take about two weeks. It's not just about getting the inventory. We have to go out and inspect every tree in person," Wang added.
Stretching over 150 kilometers, Cuiyunlang is the largest and best-preserved planted ancient cypress roadside forest in China. Jiange County, which administers Jianmenguan, is home to 7,778 ancient cypresses that still stand, among which the oldest, known as the Jiange Cypress, is more than 2,300 years old.
In ancient times, these cypresses served as road markers, helped stabilize soil to protect the road, and provided shade for travelers. According to historical records, the practice of "handing over trees upon transfer of office" dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), when outgoing local officials were required to count the ancient cypresses and inspect their health in person alongside their successors.
Today, this tradition, which has endured for more than 500 years, has been endowed with broader significance. Over the years, Jiange has codified it through local legislation. The handover now extends far beyond county mayors to a multi-tiered chain of responsibility, starting with county Party secretaries and mayors at the top and reaching all the way down to village-level officials and frontline forest rangers. Both the number of ancient trees preserved and the quality of their care are now mandatory indicators in official departure audits.
In Jiange, every ancient cypress has a dedicated file and a nameplate. Each file records the tree's serial number, age, height, precise location marked with latitude and longitude coordinates, and its conservation and treatment history.
Perhaps the most poetic detail is that the 11-digit serial number assigned to each ancient cypress begins with 510823 -- the same six digits that prefix the ID numbers of Jiange's residents. "It means every ancient cypress is a member of Jiange. We care for these trees as if they were our own family," Xu said.
Du Desheng, 63, is a forest ranger in Jianmenguan. His main duties are to check whether the ancient cypresses have been damaged by human activity or afflicted by pests and diseases. Once he spots any sign of trouble, he reports it to the authorities for timely treatment.
"I go up there every morning and again in the afternoon. If I miss a day, I just don't feel at ease," he said.
The local authorities have continued to innovate their conservation model, assigning each ancient cypress a dedicated team comprising Party cadres, local villagers, forestry experts, full-time forest rangers and civilian supervisors, thus forming a grid-based, full-chain management system. Cuiyunlang now boasts 84 full-time forest rangers and over 200 village-level volunteer supervisors.
Beyond manual patrols, technology has made the conservation of ancient cypresses smarter and more precise. At the ancient cypress nature conservation center in Jiange, real-time monitoring data, including lightning strike warnings, pest and disease remote sensing, and soil moisture levels, are displayed on screens and updated around the clock.
"In addition to the smart management platform for ancient cypresses, we also have drone aerial photography, LiDAR modeling and IoT monitoring, along with 12 lightning protection towers and a 7.2-kilometer fire-fighting pipeline network, with all working together to keep the ancient cypresses safe," said Li Xiaohong, deputy director of the center. The four intelligent fire systems, he added, can complete the entire emergency response, from fire detection to water-cannon activation, within 40 seconds.
"We hope to add more people and resources to the cause of protecting these ancient trees," said Zhang Dajun, director of the forestry bureau in Jiange. The county has set up a special fund and launched a cloud-based adoption program for the protection of ancient cypresses.
In the past three years, Jiange has poured more than 80 million yuan (about 11.76 million U.S. dollars) into tree revitalization, habitat improvement and the creation of model conservation zones for ancient cypresses. It also spends 300,000 yuan annually to insure all ancient cypresses in this corridor.
Across the country, China's conservation of ancient and notable trees is evolving from local experiments into a national endeavor. At present, over 5 million such trees nationwide have been incorporated into a unified smart management system, enabling dynamic and precise oversight.
In a move to advance ecological civilization, China's first special administrative regulation on the protection of ancient and notable trees officially took effect in March 2025. The national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) outline has also listed "achieving new major progress in building a Beautiful China" as one of its key objectives for the next five years.
"This is not a task to be accomplished overnight. It requires one generation after another to take up the responsibility," Xu said. ■
