According to Chu Tian Metropolis Daily (Special Correspondent Wang Dehua, Communicator Xu Xue Mei) - Standing at Ma Mountain on the outskirts of Ezhou and look into the distance, you can see nearby villages, rivers and factories. Dozens of villagers and retired workers nearby climb the mountain for exercise every morning and evening. They are all grateful to Lü Haiqing - because of his efforts, it's much more convenient now for everyone to go up the mountain for fitness.
Lü Haiqing, 52 years old this year, is a villager from Dabanshang Bay, Xiadu Village, Zelin Town. In December 2005, after stepping down as group leader of the village, he started going to Ma Mountain nearby every morning for exercise. Ma Mountain, with an altitude of over 200 meters, was covered in brambles. Every time Lü Haiqing went up or down the mountain, he had to climb step by step holding onto tree branches, which was very strenuous. There were also some older people who regularly climbed the mountain for exercise, each time bending over and crawling.
Lü Haiqing decided to "beautify" the wasteland, making it easier for everyone to climb the mountain for fitness. At the beginning of 2006, Lü Haiqing picked up a sickle and shouldered a hoe, diving headfirst into the desolate Ma Mountain. The beautification started with building steps. Lü Haiqing cut weeds with a sickle, then dug soil with a pointed hoe, and finally flattened and compacted the soil with a shovel. Sometimes when he encountered hard rocks, he used an iron crowbar to shave them down bit by bit, then laid soil and compacted it. To dig these steps, Lü Haiqing developed calluses on his palms and wore out the soles of several pairs of canvas sneakers.
In his spare time, Lü Haiqing dug 1000 steps in four directions on Ma Mountain, and cleared the weeds at the top of the mountain. Whenever the weeds grew again, he would remove them, without interruption for five years. Being skilled in calligraphy and stone carving, he bought flowers and plants to plant on both sides of the steps, and purchased four stones to carve inscriptions such as "Farmers' Paradise", "Horse Tail Peak", "Hero Slope", "Rising Sun Slope". After carving these four inscriptions, each weighing nearly 100 kilograms, he carried them one by one to the mountain. Even now, on rainy days, his shoulders still hurt intermittently, a lingering effect from carrying the stone inscriptions.
After five years of work by Lü Haiqing, Ma Mountain has become a great place for people nearby to relax and have fun. When talking about this yesterday, he told reporters that he didn't have money, but could only contribute a little "simple effort". What he did was just something meaningful.