Shining World Heroine Award Recipient: Ou Hongyi (vegan) – Brave Environmental Activist

“Hi, my name is Ou (Hong) Yi, and I am an eighteen-year-old vegan, minimalist, and climate activist from China. I have been striking every Friday in China over 100 times in the last two years. I am sacrificing my own education because I know there is a climate and ecological emergency in the world, and let’s go green, be vegan and save the planet. It needs all of us. Thank you.”

As a young child and teenager, she always had an interest in the environment, but it truly manifested in eighth grade, when she learned about veganism and its benefits to the planet. Then, in January 2018, she had a dream in which she went to a restaurant where customers were presented with a bucket of fish and a knife. When she was about to kill the fish, it turned and looked at her. This vision, in addition to watching the award-winning documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth,” led her to pursue a path of veganism and climate activism in her local community.

Ou Hongyi became the first young person in China to engage in the Greta Thunberg-inspired “Fridays for Future” climate strikes. Her first strike was held in May 2019, in front of a local government office in her hometown and lasted seven days. She continued this activism for the next two years and then quit school to focus on activism full time. This led to much public scrutiny and criticism, but she remained courageous and resilient in her activism to raise awareness about the climate emergency.

Upon learning about Ou Hongyi, Supreme Master Ching Hai: “Lovingly present Ou Hongyi the Shining World Heroine Award for your courageous spirit, plus US$10,000 as a helping hand to further your determined efforts to raise climate awareness, with high regard, gratitude and successful wishes, in Buddha’s Greatness.”