BEIJING: The Lianjiang, a river that flows through Guangdong province, was in pristine condition before years of development in its densely populated basin area in the early 1990s left the waterway black and odorous.
When members of a central government environmental inspection team visited the Lianjiang in 2018, they said there was almost no oxygen in the water, and no aquatic life could survive in the river.
However, in the past four years, the Lianjiang, which flows into the sea in the city of Shantou, has been gradually rejuvenated. The odor has gone from many stretches of the river that locals used to avoid as much as possible. Tourists have also returned to the Lianjiang, along with waterfowl. The changes made to the river are just a small part of the environmental transformation resulting from the inspection missions, which were launched in 2016.
This work has smoothed the path to an ecological civilization, a concept promoted by President Xi Jinping for balanced and sustainable development featuring harmonious coexistence of mankind and nature.
Zhai Qing, vice-minister of ecology and environment, said central environmental inspections are a major institutional innovation that Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, planned, made decisions about, and promoted personally. At a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office on July 6, Zhai also said Xi delivered speeches and issued instructions several times when the inspection work reached a critical stage. Inspection teams, which are usually led by ministerial-level officials, report to a central group led by Vice-Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
