New Era, New Journey, New Great Cause, General Secretary Xi Jinping's Concern to Make Wanli Mountains and Rivers More Colorful-Beautiful China Building First-Line Story Beautiful China | Ecology

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 13th (Xinhua) - Making Ten Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers More Colorful - Stories on the First Line of Building a Beautiful China

Xinhua News Agency reporters Ding Xiguo and Bai Jiali

Beautiful China, with magnificent mountains and rivers.

August 15th is the first National Ecological Day. From a river, a patch of sand, to a mountain, a bay of sea... The story of building a beautiful China is full of colorful mountains and rivers spanning thousands of miles.

Looking at "System Changes" from a River and a Piece of Sand

The sewage treatment plant in the west of Zhijiang City, Yichang, Hubei Province, could become the most important infrastructure in a large-scale chemical park, and the plant director Liu Feng said, "I didn't expect it.".

With its unique location and convenient water transportation, the Yangtze River has attracted tens of thousands of chemical enterprises along the line. The coastline was once filled with chimney factories, sand and gravel docks, and numerous sewage outlets discharging into the Yangtze River.

The Yaojiagang Chemical Park, located in Zhijiang City, has gathered nearly 100 chemical enterprises. Previously, the sewage pipeline network in the park was not sound, and there were generally leaks and leaks; Large and small sewage outlets are densely distributed along the river, and there are incidents of direct and illegal discharge by enterprises.

The transformation began in 2016. Guided by the concept of "joint efforts for major protection and no major development", the battle for the rectification of chemical enterprises along the Yangtze River has been launched, and sewage treatment is an important part.

Yaojiagang Chemical Park has begun to implement a full chain improvement of sewage treatment: enterprises optimize production processes and processes to minimize the generation of sewage and wastewater; Change the sewage transportation pipeline to stainless steel pipes to prevent leakage and leakage; All enterprise owned sewage outlets must be sealed, and sewage must be uniformly discharged into the river through a sewage treatment plant.

A corner of Yaojiagang Chemical Park.

The Chengxi Sewage Treatment Plant has thus become the core enterprise of Yaojiagang Chemical Park, engaged in environmental protection work in the chemical industry for 15 years, and Liu Feng has personally experienced the changes. The sewage treatment plant has introduced new processes such as biological multiplication to improve the efficiency of sewage treatment, and the standards for sewage discharge are also increasing. "We strictly control the 'last step' of sewage treatment and strive to prevent any drop of sewage from entering the Yangtze River," said Liu Feng.

"The General Secretary emphasized that 'we must consider the long-term interests of the Chinese nation and prioritize the restoration of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River'. The Yaojiagang Chemical Park is accelerating its transformation, from initially 'treating headaches and feet with pain' to now systematic governance, exploring a new path of ecological priority and green development to promote the protection and restoration of the Yangtze River." Xia Kesong, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Zhijiang High tech Zone and Head of Yaojiagang Chemical Park, said.

The systemic transformation of ecological environment governance from one domain to the whole is occurring in more places.

Ren Erhuan's proudest achievement was to persist in afforestation for 10 years, giving the desert a green atmosphere. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration appointed him as the "National Forestry and Grassland Expert" for this purpose.

Ren Erhuan's home is in Ulanha Shaogacha, Urad Houqi, Inner Mongolia, located on the northeastern edge of Ulanbu, the eighth largest desert in China. In the past few decades, there has been a time when sand enters and people retreat here, where oil lamps are lit during the day and dirt blocks the door at night.

In the autumn of 2013, Ren Erhuan, a farmer party member, used all his savings of over 100000 yuan to buy seedlings and decided to plant trees to prevent wind and sand, and protect farmland.

The "Green Dream" inspired him and his fellow villagers to fight. The sand and stones in the Gobi cannot be used for planting trees, so he led his fellow villagers to dig pits and exchange soil; The mountain road is rugged and cannot be opened to traffic, so they carry saplings with their hands and shoulders; The surface is barren and lacks water sources. They dug wells to fetch water and laid drip irrigation pipelines... For countless days and nights, the barren land has erected branches of life, built crisscrossing farmland protection forests, and greatly improved the agricultural production environment.

Ren Erhuan inspected the growth of jujube trees in the Ulanha Shaogacha Desert Control Area.

In addition to sand prevention and control, economic benefits must also be taken into consideration. After completing the construction of farmland protective forest belts, Ren Erhuan led the villagers to plant economic tree species such as sour jujube on the sandy beach.

After 10 years of hard work, more than 2400 acres of ecological and economic forests have been built around Ulanha Shaogacha, completing the ecological transformation from sand entering human retreat to green entering sand retreat, and realizing the transformation from key remediation to systematic governance.

From a Mountain and a Bay of Sea to See the "Change of Ideas"

Speaking of the good days in recent years, Chen Meng, a 61 year old villager from Caijiapo Village, Huayi District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, exclaimed, "You can wake up with a smile even in your dreams.".

Caijiapo Village is located at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains, and was once the location of a super large illegal villa in the Qinling Mountains. The villa occupied 14.11 acres of basic farmland in the village. "The villa is out of place with the natural scenery in the village, and even the good land cannot be planted." Chen Meng and the villagers could only sigh helplessly.

In 2018, a special rectification work was carried out on illegal villas at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains. Villas were demolished, land was restored to greenery, and returned to the village collective.

"When the walls and villas collapsed, the villagers clapped and cheered," Chen Meng recalled.

In the same year, a group of art school teachers and students came to Caijiapo and were attracted by the natural scenery of lush mountains and deep forests here. They explored the ecology of the Qinling Mountains and the distinct regional culture of Guanzhong rural areas, leading the villagers to build a number of cultural venues such as the wheat field theater, rural art museum, and sculpture museum.

The development of rural art has brought new vitality to Cai Jiapo: wheat straw has been turned into an art installation, agricultural tools have been transformed into sculptures, and various styles of art have been embellished in the fields, farmhouses, and village roads

Villagers are driving on rural roads in Caijiapo Village, Huayi District, Xi'an City.

"The village has become beautiful, famous, and has attracted more tourists. We are starting to think about how to live a better life," said Chen Meng, as the villagers discussed starting rural tourism.

"In the past, I used to earn 30000 to 50000 yuan per year by farming and working, but now I earn over 200000 yuan per year by running a farm at my doorstep. In the past, I used to grow kiwifruit for 2 yuan per kilogram and still struggle with sales, but now I have to book it for 4 yuan per kilogram." Chen Meng said, "Green mountains and clear waters have truly turned into mountains of gold and silver."

Now Chen Meng has a new identity - the "folk forest chief" who shuttles between the Qinling Mountains. His most important thing every day is to walk around the village and take a look. "This scenery is hard won, and it is our responsibility to protect it well," he said

The change of concept is both deep in the Qinling Mountains and in the broader landscape.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, Wang Yanjun, the party branch secretary of Xiaohekou Village in Longkou Coastal Resort, Shandong, rode an electric bike out.

"What I have to do every morning is to see where the village is not clean and where there is garbage by the seaside," said Wang Yanjun.

Xiaohekou Village is only 1 kilometer away from the seaside. "We are backed by the Bohai Sea and have a curved coastline, but in the past few people went to the beach to play," said Wang Yanjun. At that time, the beach and windbreak forests were littered with garbage, seriously affecting the coastal environment.

Villagers are accustomed to discharging domestic sewage directly outside their houses, and the sewage mixed with garbage will also flow into the village's river channel. "During the rainy season, sewage from the river was washed into the sea by upstream water, exacerbating pollution to the sea," Wang Yanjun recalled.

Although Xiaohekou Village used to concentrate on cleaning up garbage every year, it has always addressed the symptoms rather than the root cause.

Starting from 2021, the Binhai Resort Management Committee will carry out a systematic renovation of the domestic sewage treatment in Xiaohekou Village. The drainage pipes of each household will be integrated into the sewage pipe network, and the domestic sewage will flow into a centralized collection tank and be regularly pumped to the sewage treatment plant.

The Oriental White Stork captured near Xiaohekou Village.

The garbage in the village is disposed of at designated locations, and garbage trucks are used to clear and dispose of it uniformly every day. Wang Yanjun, along with more than ten cleaners, conducts daily patrols of the coastal environment and promptly cleans up any garbage found.

"The village is clean and tidy, with beaches as white as snow, attracting many tourists for sightseeing. Rare birds such as the Oriental white stork also flock to 'visit', and our village's environment has been completely improved," said Wang Yanjun.

From the "Green Generation" and "Light Generation" to Look at the "Changes in Development"

On one side, the fiery red steel billets on the production line are being rolled into steel, while on the other side, fish are swimming happily in the pond with clear water at the bottom. Is this definitely the production workshop of the steel plant?

"This is one of our innovations in reducing pollution and carbon emissions," said Wang Guoming, an energy and environmental technician at Tianjin Rongcheng United Steel Group Co., Ltd. proudly. This "green generation" of the steel group has witnessed the transformation of this traditional steel enterprise over the past 10 years.

In my impression of the steel industry, the workshops of enterprises are always "black, dirty, and messy", with smoke and dust rolling and scorching high temperatures, accompanying the production process.

As one of the first seven pilot provinces and cities for carbon emission trading in China, Tianjin has implemented carbon emission quota management for key enterprises since 2013, and Rongcheng has become one of the first pilot enterprises included in Tianjin. Over the years, Rongcheng has invested over 5.5 billion yuan in the construction of supporting energy-saving and environmental protection facilities.

Two years ago, the company completed a zero discharge project for industrial wastewater reuse. After treatment, all production wastewater was recycled and reused. The fish pond in the workshop is the best proof of verifying the water quality of wastewater treatment. "During lunch break, we often gather by the pool to watch the fish swim, and some workers even love to take care of the flowers and plants on the side," Wang Guoming said with a smile.

Tianjin Rongcheng United Steel Group Co., Ltd.'s "Fishery Photovoltaic Complementary" Distributed Photovoltaic Power Generation Project.

The action of energy conservation and emission reduction goes beyond this.

"The group 'saw through the cracks' and laid photovoltaic panels on the roof of the workshop and the water surface of the 600 acre sewage treatment plant. Walking through the factory area, Wang Guoming pointed to the photovoltaic panels and introduced that the daily electricity generated by the photovoltaic panels on the roof of the workshop is used for production.".

"In the past, we were the 'big spenders' of carbon emissions, but now we can benefit from trading surplus carbon quotas, earning over 8 million yuan this year," said Chai Shuman, Party Secretary of Rongcheng United Steel Group Co., Ltd.

More than 2000 kilometers away, the "Light Generation" is also experiencing "changes in development".

"Ten years ago, when I graduated from college and went to the oilfield, I was filled with hope and worry," said Hu Long, Deputy Director of the Project Management Department of the New Energy Business Unit of Yumen Oilfield.

Yumen Oilfield is the cradle of China's petroleum industry, but after more than 80 years of development and construction, the remaining mining output is decreasing, and the resource grade is declining, facing severe challenges.

The hydroelectric power plant where Hu Long, the third generation of oil, was originally located, used small coal-fired units with small unit capacity and high energy consumption. With the decline in oil reserves, transformation is urgent.

In 2020, Gansu launched a new wave of development in the new energy industry.

The Hexi region where Yumen Oilfield is located is rich in wind and light resources, with a vast Gobi area and unique conditions for developing new energy. Riding on the policy trend, the oil field has turned its "bow" and sailed towards the "blue ocean" of new energy.

At that time, Yumen Oilfield formulated its first new energy business development plan and established a new energy business unit. Hu Long, who is studying electrical automation, has started to specialize in new energy business.

In September of that year, the demonstration project for the comprehensive utilization of solar energy in Laojunmiao, Yumen Oilfield, began construction. At the "transformation" checkpoint, personnel from various aspects such as design and construction worked hard to overcome various difficulties. The pilot project was put into operation after only two months of construction.

"The actual annual power generation of the project has greatly exceeded expectations, and the results have been good in the past three years of operation," said Hu Long.

On site of the Yumen Oilfield 200 MW photovoltaic power generation project.

In 2021, the Yumen Oilfield 200 MW photovoltaic power generation project broke ground in the Gobi Desert and was successfully connected to the grid by the end of the year, becoming the first large-scale centralized grid connected power generation demonstration project of China National Petroleum Corporation, breaking the breakthrough of China National Petroleum Corporation's zero external supply of clean electricity.

Nowadays, the installed capacity of clean electricity in Yumen Oilfield has exceeded 500000 kilowatts, and the average annual supply of new energy electricity to the outside world has reached 1 billion kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to saving 210000 tons of standard oil.

"General Secretary emphasized that promoting the development of new and clean energy should be given a more prominent position, and actively and orderly development of solar energy, silicon energy, hydrogen energy, and renewable energy should be carried out." Hu Long, the current "generation of light", said that the new energy industry in old oil fields is still on the way, and transformation and cross-border cooperation are still ongoing.