(Yicai Global) April 22 -- Alipay has planted 100 million real trees with 500 million Ant Forest users to establish forestation of an area of 1.4 million mu (933 square kilometers), China's largest online payment firm announced today in commemoration of Earth Day.

The Alipay mobile payment of Hangzhou-based tech titan Alibaba Group Holding's Ant Financial finance arm started the Ant Forest Program in August 2016 and encouraged people to pay with the third-party app to amass credit to grow virtual trees.

It then conjured these virtual trees to life by planting real ones in barren areas of the country's northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northwestern Gansu province under threat of desertification. 

Editor: Ben Armour