2 | Tuesday, January 5, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO Waterway: Key projects implemented
Patrol boat crews check the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei province, last month after the introduction of a 10year fishing ban on the waterway. CHENG MIN / XINHUA
From page 1 and more beautiful,” he added. ter in the Yangtze River Valley, espe patrols more than 100 km along the His company has invested more cially the wetlands around Poyang banks of the Yangtze on his electric During the meeting, Xi called for than 90 million yuan ($13.74 mil Lake — one of the river’s main bod scooter every day. a comprehensive improvement in lion) in the renovation project, for ies of water. The 50yearold has always lived the efficient use of resources and for which dozens of local villagers have In 2017, Zhou and a group of vol on Kaisha Island in the city’s accelerated green and lowcarbon been employed. unteers rented the 200,000square Tongzhou district. His ancestors development. “I hope that people on the vessels meter lotus field south of the lake were fishermen and Shi never imag In spring, Tongluo Flower Valley that pass by can enjoy the beautiful near Nanchang and adapted it to ined that one day he would monitor in the Nanan district of Chongqing scenery in the river valley,” Zhang form a suitable conservation area the river to help enforce a fishing became a popular destination for added. for the cranes. ban. local people and a scenic spot for “With the support of the govern “I cannot recall when I started cruises along the Yangtze. Factories close ment, the conservation area more to fish in the river,” said Shi, who This newly opened vertical gar In Wuhan, Hubei province, in than tripled in size last year, during worked in the industry for 31 den built on a hillside covers nearly 2018, Xi reiterated the importance which we recorded more than 2,800 years. “I watched my parents 13 hectares and features some 120 of sustainable development for the white cranes,” Zhou said. catch fish on their boat every day types of trees and flowers, along Yangtze River Economic Belt. This area is just one of many small and learned how to do this when I with several pavilions. Visitors He said local governments wetlands on the Yangtze and Poyang was very young.” enjoy the scenery, drink tea, have should overcome inertia and focus Lake that the Jiangxi government He cannot remember how many meals and even stay at a cave on fostering highquality develop has tried to protect and restore in fish he used to catch, but said the shaped hotel. ment. recent years. The authorities have many species taken from the river However, the site used to be a “The Yangtze River is China’s allocated 50 million yuan to com helped him support his family, raise waste area for Fangniu village and mother river, and we must protect Tongluo Flower Valley, once a waste ground in Chongqing, has been pensate farmers whose produce has his children and have a decent stan later became a large, foulsmelling it. We must move all polluting transformed into a vertical garden. HUANG WEI / XINHUA been eaten by birds. dard of living. dumping ground for construction enterprises from along the Yang Qian Fawen, an ornithologist “I could catch more than 50 kilo companies. tze with resolve … to root out hid with the National Forestry and grams of longtailed anchovy in a Village official Tang Hongdong den dangers of pollution,” he Yangtze River Economic Belt Grassland Administration, told single net,” he said proudly. At one said, “This illegal dumping ground stressed. Jiangxi Daily that last month time, this species sold for more than seriously affected the environment Efforts should be made to get Poyang Lake saw the highest num 10,000 yuan a kg. and was also a threat to the Yangtze rid of old growth engines, culti Nanjing ber of migratory birds for a dec However, things began to change River.” vate new ones and establish a ade. about 20 years ago, when Shi was Shanghai On rainy days, waste and rocks modern system for the economic Chengdu “The Yangtze fishing ban and catching considerably fewer fish in from the site washed into the river, belt, he added. Wuhan wideranging conservation work the Yangtze. polluting the water, he added. Fruit store owner Bi Kaiyun have increased the food supply for “Nine out of 10 fishing nets con In January 2016, after an inspec worked at the Tiantian Chemical Chongqing migratory birds, while demonstrat tained nothing but disappointment tion tour to the riverside city of Plant on the southern bank of the Nanchang ing that the environment has when they were pulled out of the riv Chongqing, Xi said the environmen Yangtze in Yichang, Hubei, for 16 improved,” Qian said. er. I realized that something must be tal quality of the Yangtze “can only years until the factory was demol While Zhou’s focus is on the Sibe done and that the Yangtze needed be allowed to become better, and ished in April 2018. rian white crane, in Shanghai, con time to recover,” he said. can never be allowed to deteriorate”. The company was one of the city’s ∙ Comprises: nine provinces and two ∙ Foreign investment in 2019: servationist Liu Jian is concerned Last year, the authorities issued a The authorities in Chongqing major taxpayers, contributing 28 municipalities $67.71 billion (excluding banking, about another endangered species regulation to protect the river, bar quickly started improvement million yuan ($4.4 million) annual ∙ Area: 2.05 million square kilometers securities and stock market) — the Chinese sturgeon. ring all fishing along the waterway work along the Yangtze and Jialing ly to local coffers before it was — 21.4 percent of China’s territory ∙ Area within ecological conserva The fish, which dates to prehistor for 10 years. rivers, repairing waterfronts, opti closed. ∙ Population: 600 million — 40 per tion redline: 544,200 sq km — 25.47 ic times, lives mainly in the Yangtze, Shi, who received compensation mizing riverside functions, creat Bi said, “It was hard to start a new cent of national total percent of Yangtze River Economic particularly its estuary. On reaching of more than 190,000 yuan for his ing waterfriendly spaces, and career in middle age, but it was the ∙ Urbanization ratio: 59.5 percent Belt area maturity, it swims more than 1,000 fishing boat and equipment, applied protecting historical and cultural right thing to do for the sake of a bet Combined GDP in 2019: 45.78 tril ∙ Water quality in 2019: 91.7 percent km upstream to breed, with baby to patrol the Yangtze. resources. ter environment.” lion yuan ($7 trillion), 46.2 percent of of water in sections monitored sturgeon swimming to the river All 400 fishermen in the city have As part of the program, Fangniu He said that when the factory national total reached national standards I to III; 0.6 mouth. moved ashore and their 170 boats village worked with a local land was shut down, people living in ∙ Research and development percent of water fell below national Liu, director of the Shanghai have been dismantled. scaping company to turn the neighboring areas began to open investment in 2019: 1.06 trillion standard V. Aquatic Wildlife Conservation To help them adapt to new lives, dumping ground into an ecological their windows, dry clothes on bal yuan, 2.23 percent of regional GDP and Research Center, said: “The the local government has offered to park. conies and stroll along the river ∙ Goods transported on Yangtze SOURCES: NATIONAL STATISTICS center has seen baby sturgeon train them as nurses for the elderly Zhang Shunyin, 65, owner of the bank. last year: 3.06 billion metric tons, BUREAU, MINISTRY OF ECOLOGY AND swimming to the estuary in only and as bakers and chefs. Nearly all company and a local villager, said, “I “Life became clean and clear yearonyear rise of 4.4 percent ENVIRONMENT, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT two of the past seven years of the fishermen were covered by the grew up by the river and I had to do again. Now, I can wear lightcolored monitoring. Protecting the fish local social security system. something for the younger genera clothes at my store and don’t have to requires efforts from all provinces Shi said many of them have gone tion.” worry about getting stains and dirt resulted in Yichang’s GDP growth waterway and its tributaries, taking along the Yangtze.” to big cities to work, and that he sel In 2017, work began on the from machinery.” dropping to 2.4 percent from 10.2 effect on March 1. In May, Shanghai legislators dom catches people fishing illegally Tongluo Flower Valley Ecological After the chemical plant was percent, but it soon started to passed a new law protecting the Chi in the river. Park. demolished, a new one with high bounce back as factories were Wildlife protection nese sturgeon, emphasizing region “I’m proud to patrol and protect In the early stages, more than 300 standard pollution treatment facili upgraded, and by 2019 had reached For the past four years, Zhou al cooperation and ordering an the Yangtze and hope that my chil trucks were used to remove waste ties was built away from the river in 8.1 percent. Haiyan, a journalist turned con annual report on the status of the dren can also protect, and not harm, from the site, home to over 50,000 Zhijiang county, Yichang. Yichang is not the only city tack servationist in Nanchang, Jiangxi species. the river. I hope that one day I can cubic meters of dirt and stones. In 2017, the Yichang govern ling environmental issues by province, has been expanding a A crossregional system is being see as many fish in the Yangtze as I Because the hillside was so steep, ment issued a document on upgrading industry and relocating lotus field to accommodate migra established to arrange protection did years ago,” he added. the vehicles could not enter the con reducing pollution and upgrading factories. tory Siberian white cranes. The and artificial propagation for the struction site, so the waste had to be the chemical industry, with the All cities along the river are fol species is listed by the Interna diminishing sturgeon population. Contact the writers at carried entirely by laborers, Zhang aim of shutting down, relocating lowing suit, with the Yangtze River tional Union for Conservation of [email protected] said or renovating 134 chemical com Protection Law, which bans the Nature as critically endangered. Fishing ban “But this failed to shake the deter panies by last year. building and expansion of chemical These birds, which breed in the Shi Hongwei, a former fisherman Liu Kun and Wang Jian contribut mination to make our home greener Closure of the chemical industry factories within 1 kilometer of the Yakutia region of Russia, spend win in Nantong, Jiangsu province, ed to this story.
Left: Xu Baoan, right, a former fisherman, now works at a shoe factory in Honghu, Hubei. XIAO YIJIU / XINHUA Center: Thousands of Chinese sturgeon are released into the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei. ZHENG JIAYU / XINHUA Right: Migratory birds arrive at Poyang Lake, Jiangxi province, in winter. WAN XIANG / XINHUA