Initiative sets clear course for Yangtze

At the meeting point of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake in Hukou county, Jiangxi province, a 16-member patrol team tirelessly navigates the waters and patrols the banks. Their mission is to protect the Yangtze finless porpoises and combat illegal fishing.

Leading the team is 58-year-old Shu Yin'an. "My family used to rely on fishing for our livelihood," Shu recalled. "But overfishing disrupted the ecosystem, and fish became scarce, making it hard for us to get by."

A thought weighed on him: "If we continued fishing like that, our future generations might never see a fish in the Yangtze River."

That is why he joined the patrol team when it was established in 2017. Now, he and his teammates spend their days monitoring the river, rescuing protected species, reporting illegal fishing and removing harmful gear.

In 2020, a 10-year fishing ban took effect in key waters in the Yangtze River Basin. Like Shu, more than 230,000 fishermen traded their nets and moved ashore to start new businesses with the support of local governments — a massive shift that signaled a profound ecological turnaround and transformation for the nation's "mother river".

The roots of the change go back 10 years, when President Xi Jinping chaired the first symposium on the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt on Jan 5, 2016, in Chongqing, a metropolis in the upper reaches of the Yangtze.

There, Xi set a clear guiding principle for the river's governance. "Restoring the ecological environment of the Yangtze River should be an overriding priority," he said. "We must focus on joint protection and avoid excessive development."

The Yangtze River Economic Belt, a national development strategy spearheaded by Xi, encompasses 11 provincial-level regions across the country, stretching from Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in western China to economic powerhouses in the east, including Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai. It is home to over 40 percent of China's population and contributes close to half of its GDP.

Xi's call for prioritizing ecological protection and avoiding excessive development has been widely regarded by experts as setting new principles and charting a clear course for the river's future — a turning point in the governance of the Yangtze.

This guiding philosophy has been embedded in a master plan for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, issued in September 2016. The landmark document formally established "ecological priority, green development, joint protection and no excessive development" as the foundational principles for the economic belt's development.

Zhang Wenjun, director of the Economics Teaching and Research Department at the Jiangxi Academy of Governance, said that the concept marked a fundamental breakthrough, as it reframed the relationship between growth and protection, putting an end to the cycle of industrial expansion at the expense of the environment.

This shift in development philosophy has prompted local governments and enterprises along the river to thoroughly reassess their growth models. A compelling case in point is the transformation of Guangyang Isle in Chongqing, the largest green island in the upper reaches of the Yangtze.

Over a decade ago, Guangyang Isle faced intensive real estate development pressure, with plans in place for projects covering more than 3 million square meters. Such a development push led to significant degradation of the island's mountains and forests, threatening its ecological integrity.

In 2017, Chongqing's municipal authorities made a decisive move, halting such unsustainable projects and initiating comprehensive and systematic ecological restoration. Since then, relocated residents have made comebacks and tourists have poured in from across the country.

"In the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, it is imperative for local governments to focus on fortifying the ecological security barrier by conserving resources and protecting biodiversity," Zhang said, highlighting differentiated priorities for different sections of the river.

"A key task for the middle reaches is to tackle industrial pollution, systematically restoring ecology by transforming polluting enterprises," he added.

For years, chemical plants along the Yangtze had plagued the river, with industrial discharges threatening the health of the waterway and nearby communities.

The issue remained a source of deep concern for Xi. In April 2018, following a three-day tour of cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, he pointed out that the river was "seriously ill".

He wrapped up the visit in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, where he presided over a symposium on further promoting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. During the meeting, Xi shared a revealing case from a news report involving a major chemical company located along a bend of the river.

Despite being a leading global producer, the company had long been a heavy polluter, causing severe distress to residents. In 2016, local authorities slapped the company with a record fine of over 27 million yuan ($3.86 million) — the largest environmental fine ever imposed in the Yangtze River Basin.

The move compelled the company to shut down its heavily polluting and outdated production lines. Subsequently, it took the initiative to invest around 100 million yuan in installing state-of-the-art pollution control facilities.

Xi described the outcome as hitting two targets with one shot: It not only resolved years of pollution, but also drove the company's industrial upgrading.

Evolving commitment

The president's commitment to the "mother river" has been unwavering. Over the past decade and more, he has conducted around 30 inspection tours along the Yangtze and chaired four pivotal symposiums to steer the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, including one in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu, in 2020 and another in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi, in 2023.

On these occasions, Xi stressed the imperative to fully and faithfully implement the new development philosophy and called for joint efforts in prioritizing ecological protection and pursuing green development.

Guided by these principles, local authorities along the river have pressed ahead with ecological conservation and restoration, while promoting industrial transition.

Zhang Xueliang, chief expert at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics' Chinese Modernization Institute, noted that the development of the economic belt has evolved beyond a narrow focus on economic expansion.

It now aligns with a more comprehensive development framework, involving "the systematic and coordinated advancement of high-quality development, high-standard opening-up, high-quality living, and high-efficiency governance", he said. "It serves as a model of multidimensional progress."

During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has firmly established itself as a primary driving force leading China's high-quality development.

The economic belt's capacity for scientific and technological innovation has been consistently enhanced, with steady progress in building Shanghai into a globally influential sci-tech innovation hub, advancing the comprehensive national science center in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, and promoting the coordinated development of science and technology innovation centers in Chongqing, as well as in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and Wuhan.

Meanwhile, the region has emerged as a powerhouse of technological innovation and green industry. It has welcomed 1,738 new "little giant" innovative enterprises and now hosts 196 national smart manufacturing demonstration factories.

Looking ahead, Zhang, from the Chinese Modernization Institute, said that he envisions a "colorful" development pathway for the Yangtze River Economic Belt during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, driven by a spectrum of targeted measures regarding resilient security, industrial transformation, sci-tech innovation, green development, cultural vitality, urban-rural integration and regional coordination.

"Such multidimensional progress calls for a shift in the development model — from an approach driven by traditional factors to a new pathway powered by the dual drivers of innovation and consumption," he added.

Contact the writers at jihaisheng@chinadaily.com.cn