Colorful tree 'sweaters' branch out across country

Family involvement

Volunteers Zhao Shuang and her 10-year-old daughter Shi Yunxin participated twice in the program and "adopted" two trees.

For their first tree, they used deep blue color for the sweater to symbolize the power of the sea, and added a pair of orange hands to evoke a feeling of warmth and an embrace.

For the second tree, in addition to the festive sweater, they made a large bouquet of roses using twist rods. They placed them in a heart-shaped bag, and included inspirational cards offering encouragement to those who see it.

"When the first batch of (tree) adoptions was almost full, I was lucky to secure a spot. During the second batch, I involved my group of friends to take responsibility for 50 trees," Zhao said.

Since 2017, the mother and daughter have been participating in various federation activities. They have made like-minded friends and formed a volunteer service team.

"The enthusiasm of everyone was particularly high. Initially, we planned for one family to adopt one tree, but there were too many people interested. In the end, some trees had two or three, or five or six families adopting them together," she said.

The Picture Book Dalian volunteer team also participated in the tree dressing.

Wang Xuehong, head of the team, said that as soon as they noticed the activity posted on the federation's WeChat account, they immediately claimed 20 trees.

"Mostly parents brought their children to participate. We collected many old sweaters and even found some discarded sweater pieces from a sweater factory. Everyone worked together to sew, creating various styles of tree coats," said Wang.

The children were actively involved. Some of them would occasionally check on the trees they helped decorate, and feel a sense of responsibility and pride, which was particularly meaningful to them, she said.