Abstract: Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the strategic connotation of afforestation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has been continuously deepened and expanded as national development goals have evolved. Taking historical periodization as its analytical framework, this paper systematically examines this evolutionary process through historical review and logical induction. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, the Party, under the call to “green the motherland,” the CPC treated afforestation as an important instrument for strengthening the nation’s territorial security ecological barriers, serving economic supply, and enhancing political identity. In the new period of reform and opening up, through measures such as advancing forest tenure reform, institutionalizing voluntary afforestation, and engaging in environmental diplomacy, the Party initiated the historical process of transitioning afforestation from a primary focus on timber production to a primary focus on ecological construction. In the new era, guided by the “Two Mountains” concept and supported by the development of the “four reservoirs” functions of forests, the pursuit of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, and the building of a Beautiful China, afforestation has become a practical vehicle for the transformation of national development strategy and participation in global climate governance. This evolutionary trajectory demonstrates that the Party has always positioned afforestation within the broader national development agenda and has continuously deepened its understanding of the relationship between humanity and nature, thereby illustrating the practical innovation of Chinese modernization in realizing the Marxist value orientation of “harmony between humanity and nature.”