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Home , Baoxing County, Mianyang, Music of Sichuan, Sichuan

Daily Tuesday, February 2, 2016 special 7

A scene from Kung Panda 3 shows the Panda Village on Qingcheng Mountain. photos provided to City strives to Sichuan’s environmental treasure revive beauty go up on the big screen worldwide that inspired ancient poets Province’s picturesque environment showcased in latest of popular movie series,

Li Yu and Peng Chao discover. By Yu and Peng Chao

One of the largest cities in the upper reach- any viewers of the movie Kung es of the River, has a tradi- Fu Panda 3, which was released tion of ecological conservation and is known in China and the United States as a pleasant city in which to live. M on Friday, are interested in the The recently released Kung Fu Panda 3 fictional Panda Village to which hero Po has the Qingcheng Mountain, located in returns with his long-lost father, especially the city, to base the fictional Panda Vil- those who live in or have traveled to Sich- lage. uan province in southwestern China. Many great poets, including and Du After watching the movie, foreign Fu during the (AD 618-907) and viewers told China Daily that they were You in the Southern (AD keen to visit Qingcheng Mountain, because 1127-1279), wrote verse about the beautiful the scenery of the Panda Village amazed environment in Chengdu. them. Because of its picturesque scenery with They said Qingcheng Mountain, as por- chirping of birds and the fragrance of trayed in the movie, looks to have a peace- flowers, it has gained an poetry accolade ful environment. In the movie, Po says he of the “City of Hibiscus”. can only find inner peace on the mountain, Local officials said they are working to and the power he uses in kung fu derives recreate the beautiful scenes described in from there. the poems and history books within five to “I don’t know the exact reason why the 10 years. director chose Qingcheng Mountain (as a The city has been upgrading its ecologi- basis) for the scenery but, for me, it is really cal environment in a bid to offer better a good choice,” a viewer said. living conditions for its residents. By 2020, Raman Hui, director of the promotional the urban green coverage is expected to reach music video for Kung Fu Panda 3, said the 46 percent, green space ratio to reach 42 scrip writing visited Sichuan many times percent and parkland per capita to reach 15 for inspiration, as it is home to giant pan- square meters. das. Qingcheng Mountain, located to northwest of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, is known as a birthplace of and is famous for its Chengdu launched an Ecological Belt “When we went to Qingcheng Mountain, peaceful natural environment. Around the City project in 2012. The project the first things that came into sight were aims to create an ecological preservation area the wreathes of mist and the green forest, along the city’s ring expressway by 2020. which are exactly what Po and his father According to the plan, land within 200 see in the movie when they return to Panda meters of both sides of the ring expressway Village,” he said. will be used for ecological construction. Hui said the production team mar- The ecological belt, with a total length of veled at the scenery on Qingcheng 85 kilometers and total area of 187 sq km, Mountain and thought it a perfect place will connect six rivers and lakes and eight on which to base Panda Village. wetlands, increasing the city’s total water area “Were it not for the ecological envi- to five times that of the famous West Lake in ronmental protection and construc- , province. tion throughout the entire province in The city is also planning to build several the past decades, the beautiful scenery large-scale wetlands in its cities. wouldn’t be possible to be shown in the To help build an ecological barrier in the movie,” said Luo Jianguo, chief engineer upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Chengdu of the Sichuan Forestry Department. will also increase vegetation coverage on the Sichuan province is a large forestry A panda in . French priest Jean Pierre Armand David A Kung Fu Panda 3 promotion is held in Chengdu on Jan 20. In the new Longmen and Longquan mountains that province and one of the world’s 25 most discovered and documented the animals in Baoxing county in 1869. movie, Po will return to his hometown. surround the . important ecological zones, according A national park planned to Luo. to cover 1,616 square kilometers in The province has taken the lead in Chengdu will be established on Longmen the country to launch a Natural Forest Mountain in the west of the city. Through Protection Project. It has also started a the building of the park, Chengdu plans Grain for Green project initiated by the to enhance the protection and recovery central government, which aims to control of the forest ecosystem on the mountain soil erosion and restore the ecological envi- and protect biodiversity. ronment by returning farmland to forests. Statistics indicated that the city also In another development, the Sichuan plans to take three to five years to add provincial government proposed to build 6,706 hectares of forest on Longquan the ecological barrier in the upper reaches Mountain in the east of the city, raising of the Yangtze River for the sake of the the mountain’s forest coverage by 8.75 Yangtze River Basin. percent to 59.79 percent. , a county-level city Through the protection and planting administered by Chengdu, capital of of forests on Longmen and Longquan Sichuan province and where the - People practice tai chi on Qingcheng Mountain. Po and a friend in the movie Kung Fu Panda 3. mountains and in other parts of the city, gcheng Mountain is located, is a key Chengdu aims to raise its forest coverage region for the survival and reproduc- to 41 percent and its forest stock to 33 tion of giant pandas, as well as part were bred in captivity. Some of those ani- province’s forests and wetlands, such as 2020), Sichuan will continue to cul- million cubic meters by 2025. of the ecological barrier in the upper mals will be released into the wild to water conservation and air purification, tivate its forest ecosystem, restore the Since 2014, Chengdu has been coop- reaches of the Yangtze River. enlarge the wild population, according are estimated to be worth as much as wetland ecosystem and control the des- erating with seven surrounding cities The city has enlarged the living space to Chen. 1.65 trillion ($251 billion) per year. ert ecosystem and, as a result, to basically around it to improve the environment for its pandas by protecting the forest “Sichuan province strove to improve The province has also protected more complete the construction of the ecological of the Chengdu Plain Economic Zone, around the panda habitat and building a its ecological environment during the than 10,000 higher plants and 1,200 land barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze which is the most developed region in nature reserve, according to Chen Yong- 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) ,” Luo said. vertebrates. Many of its endangered spe- River, according to Luo. Sichuan and home to 40 percent of the zhong, deputy director of the Longxi-Hon- By the end of 2015, the forest coverage cies, including the giant panda, have By 2020, the forest coverage of Sichuan province’s population. gkou National Nature Reserve, one of the of the province reached 36.02 percent, 14 seen an increase in recovery. province is expected to reach 37 percent. According to the plan, the cities will country’s 67 giant panda reserves. percent points higher than the national According to the fourth National Pan- Another major task for Sichuan is to jointly implement projects in forestation, Chen said the city has returned 5,000 average and 0.3 percentage point higher da Census released in 2015, there are enhance the protection of critically endan- sewage treatment and air pollution control hectares of farmland to forest, and built the than in the previous year. 1,864 wild pandas in China, of which gered wild animals, such as giant pandas with the target of building a “green shelter” in Longxi-Hongkou National Nature Reserve “Though a small number, the 0.3 per- 1,387 are in Sichuan province. and golden monkeys. The province aims to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. that covers 31,000 hectares, expanding centage point means the forest area of The province has been known to the provide effective protection for 95 percent the giant panda habitat to nearly 40,000 Sichuan increased some 299,850 hectares world as home to giant pandas since of the national or provincial key protected hectares. in 2015,” Luo said. French priest Jean Pierre Armand wild animals and plants in nature reserves. “Thanks to the improving ecological So far, Sichuan province has afforested David discovered and documented the The province also plans to build three Yellow environment, it is home to 14 wild pandas more than 6.67 million hectares of land. animals in Baoxing county in 1869. national parks for giant pandas in Chengdu, Sea now, while in the past there were only six Its total forest stock ranks third and forest Located on the western edge of the Ya’an and . to eight,” he said. area ranks fourth in the nation. The sedi- Sichuan Plain, Baoxing county is an Experts believe that the national parks Dujiangyan is also home to a Rescue ment that enters the Yangtze River every important ecological area on the upper will help break administrative barriers and Disease Control Center and a Field year has been reduced by 300 million reaches of the Yangtze River. It covers and create a better living environment for Chengdu Research Center for the study of panda metric tons, which is nearly 80 percent of 3,114 sq km, 99.7 percent of which is pandas as well as other endangered wild Sichuan disease control and prevention, rescue and the flow, during peak season in the past,” mountainous and 75 percent of which animals. quarantine, rehabilitation and wilderness- according to Luo. belongs to the core area for the protec- survival training. “Nature is the true treasure,” Luo said. tion of pandas. Contact the writers at liyu@chinadaily. The two centers house 44 pandas that The ecological services provided by the During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016- com.cn and [email protected] 200 km