Which great man does my country’s Arbor Day (March 12) commemorate?

It is in memory of Sun Yat-sen, who passed away on March 12, 1925. Therefore, in February 1979, the Sixth Session of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress passed a resolution to designate March 12 as my country's Arbor Day. The significance of this resolution was to mobilize people of all ethnic groups across the country to actively plant trees. , to speed up the pace of greening the motherland and various forestry constructions. The date of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s death is designated as my country’s Arbor Day to commemorate Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s great achievements and symbolize that Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s last wish that could not be realized during his lifetime will be realized in New China and will be realized even better.

Historical information:

Mr. Sun Yat-sen loved planting trees since he was a child. There is still a 100-year-old Honolulu sour bean tree growing in his former residence. In 1883, Sun Yat-sen, who was only 18 years old, brought seedlings all the way from Honolulu, the United States, and planted them with his own hands. Under his careful cultivation, they finally became mature. ?

Sun Yat-sen was also the first person in modern my country to strongly advocate afforestation. The political document "Li Hongzhang Shu" drafted by him personally stated that if China wants to be strong, it must "rapidly develop agriculture and pay attention to arboriculture."

After the Revolution of 1911, Mr. Sun Yat-sen proposed a large-scale afforestation plan in northern and central China. In 1924, he emphasized in a speech in Guangzhou: The fundamental way for us to prevent floods and droughts is to continue to plant trees, and to build large-scale forests. In addition, he repeatedly emphasized the dangers of deforestation and the importance of afforestation in many books and speeches, and practiced it by planting trees himself.

In July 1915, at the initiative of Sun Yat-sen, the Beiyang government at that time officially issued an order that designated Qingming Festival as Arbor Day every year. Designate a location and select tree species. Governments, agencies and schools at all levels across the country will participate as scheduled, hold an Arbor Day ceremony and engage in tree planting. After approval on July 21 of that year, the order was implemented nationwide as scheduled. Since then, our country has had Arbor Day.

On March 12, 1925, Dr. Sun Yat-sen passed away. In 1928, to commemorate the third anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's death, the Nationalist Government held a tree-planting ceremony. In order to commemorate Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the day of his death, March 12, was designated as Arbor Day.

After the completion of the Northern Expedition in 1928, the Kuomintang government issued a nationwide order on April 7: "The Qingming Arbor Day in the future calendar should be changed to a tree planting ceremony to commemorate the death of the Prime Minister." On February 9, 1929, the Ministry of Agriculture and Mines of the Republic of China announced the following The ministerial order promulgated 16 articles of the "Interim Regulations on Tree Planting in Various Provinces to Commemorate the Death of the Prime Minister." Yi Peiji, Minister of Agriculture and Minerals of the Executive Yuan of the National Government, followed the instructions of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and actively promoted afforestation. In February 1930, he submitted a proposal to the Executive Yuan and the National Government to designate the week from March 9 to 15 as "Afforestation Movement Publicity Week". A tree planting ceremony was held on the 12th, the anniversary of the death of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

In 1979, at the suggestion of Deng Xiaoping, the Sixth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress decided that March 12 every year would be my country's Arbor Day. In February 1979, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, based on the proposal of the State Council, officially passed a resolution to designate March 12 each year as Arbor Day.

The General Principles of the revised "Forest Law of the People's Republic of China" adopted by the Seventh Session of the Sixth National People's Congress Standing Committee in September 1984 stipulates: "Afforestation and forest protection are the obligations of citizens. ”, thereby bringing afforestation into the scope of law.

(The picture shows the Arbor Day event in 1923)