Founder's story
meet Sonw Chen,our founder
Snow grew up in Ya'an, Sichuan—a city known as the "Rain City," with an average annual rainfall of about 1,800 mm. It is also the homeland of the giant panda, where the very first panda was discovered. After living there for over two decades, Snow witnessed firsthand the devastation of mudslides: boulders and torrents of mud crashing down, destroying homes and bridges, severing roads, paralyzing communities, and claiming lives and landscapes. Each time, she felt heartbroken and powerless.
Determined to find answers, she dove into research and came to understand a simple truth: reforestation, forest conservation, and reducing deforestation are essential to preventing natural disasters like mudslides. But what struck her most was the staggering amount of trees consumed by the paper industry. That's when she turned her gaze to bamboo—Sichuan's most abundant and historic resource. Since the Tang Dynasty, locals had used bamboo to make paper—paper that was not only high in quality but also inherently eco-friendly.
A vision took root: to enable more people to use bamboo paper. In 2007, she founded Qingya Paper, dedicating herself to promoting paper-making from bamboo pulp—persevering, sheet by sheet, for the sake of this land she calls home… Today, every roll of paper comes from Sichuan, the province she loves so dearly, and every sheet carries her promise—to fell as few trees as possible and use more bamboo. Seventeen years on, she remains firmly convinced that whilst a single sheet of paper may seem insignificant, when gathered together, millions of sheets become an enduring commitment to the land she calls home.