Watching the tide | Rizhao Sunshine Coast: Polishing the ecological background and igniting the cultural tourism industry

On the afternoon of the 22nd, General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected Rizhao City, Shandong Province. He came to the Sunshine Coast Greenway to learn about strengthening coastline ecological protection and restoration and improving people's quality of life.

In early summer, the blue sea waves burst into waves. On the Sunshine Coast Greenway, the Shanhaitian Taigong Island Wetland Park in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, built along the beach shoreline, has lush green trees, fragrant vegetation, and groups of seagulls soaring among the blue sea and sky, attracting many tourists to stop and watch.

This is a photomontage. The top picture shows the Sunshine Coast Greenway in Rizhao City, Shandong Province after ecological restoration was completed in 2021. The greenway is 28 kilometers long; the bottom picture shows the unfinished Sunshine Coast Greenway in Rizhao City taken in November 2019. What it looks like after ecological restoration. Photo by reporter Guo Xulei

But a few years ago, there was a different scene here. The saline-alkali land without any vegetation and the breeding ponds that had lost their ecological functions were prohibitive.

Rizhao City, on the coast of the Yellow Sea, is surrounded by mountains and seas and has beautiful scenery. This city, which was born and prospered because of the port, enjoys the economic benefits brought by port coal operations, but it also inevitably leaves ecological scars.

In recent years, Rizhao City has vigorously implemented the "ecological city establishment" strategy and continuously increased ecological protection efforts to make the ecological background brighter.

This is the Sunshine Coast Greenway in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, taken recently. Photo by reporter Guo Xulei

——Create a beautiful bay. Rizhao has established 11 marine protected areas of various types and is the first in the country to establish marine ecological red lines for the entire sea area. The Hailong Bay Project has adjusted the function of nearly 2 kilometers of port coastline into an ecological coastline, becoming the first domestic port industrial coastline return to the sea, restoration and renovation of the ecological coastline project.

——Protect the beautiful coast. Rizhao has taken the initiative to implement the coastal zone improvement and restoration project at the mouth of the sea. The total ecological coastline has been restored to about 31 kilometers, about 1.28 million square meters of beaches have been repaired, and more than 1.1 million square meters of vegetation have been restored.

This is the Sunshine Coast Greenway in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, taken recently. Photo by reporter Li Tao

Based on coastal restoration, Rizhao closely integrates leisure tourism needs with marine ecological protection, continuously innovates and launches diversified cultural tourism products, and builds the Sunshine Coast into a well-known coastal leisure and vacation destination at home and abroad.

During this year’s May Day holiday, popular scenic spots on the coastline such as Wanpingkou Scenic Area, Xingdao Blue Carbon Scenic Area, and Rizhao Seaside National Forest Park have become unprecedentedly popular. Cultural tourism products covering multiple formats such as music, sports, immersive performing arts, markets, food, and camping are deeply favored by tourists, driving the popularity of "tourist performing arts" and "travel music" to continue to expand.

Every morning or evening, groups of hikers and cyclists can be seen everywhere on the Sunshine Coast Greenway. The 28-kilometer-long Sunshine Coast Greenway, built in accordance with world-class rural shoreline standards, retains its original appearance of pine forests, beaches, reefs and wetland resources. It not only organically connects Wanpingkou Scenic Area, Rizhao Coastal National Forest Park, and Liangcheng Hekou National Wetland Park Such high-quality beach coastline scenic spots are also equipped with cultural facilities such as urban study rooms to create a seaside leisure space for citizens.

At present, Rizhao has built more than 10 ecological and sea-friendly spaces with unique characteristics, including a 61.8-kilometer-long mountain and sea-style greenway and a Sunshine Coast Greenway, which have linked the originally scattered sea-friendly spaces into a chain, effectively enhancing the attraction of the coastal leisure tourism belt. force. Last year, Rizhao received more than 50 million domestic tourists.

Vision|Co-produced by Domestic and Shandong Branch