Focus interview： the butterfly change of Ludao’s high value

　　Cctv news(Focus Interview): During the Spring Festival holiday this year, many families chose to travel. Xiamen, Fujian is a popular destination for Spring Festival travel. Xiamen has a unique style, the city is on the sea, the sea is in the city, beaches, blue sea, blue sky, green trees, beautiful scenery, crowds of tourists and delicious snacks are all people’s impressions of Xiamen. But you may not know that Xiamen once faced environmental and ecological problems such as water pollution and beach degradation. So what kind of butterfly changes has this coastal city experienced before it becomes today’s high-quality, high-value, modern and international Xiamen?

　　In the Spring Festival in the Year of the Loong, Xiamen Island is full of tourists. During the day, everyone enjoys the island style on the beach; At night, the Spring Festival light show in downtown Xiamen introduces the island’s past lives. The place where the light show is staged is called Yundang Lake. It is hard to imagine that such a lively place, more than 30 years ago, has become a stinking lake that everyone can’t avoid because of the increase of residents, the presence of enterprises and the discharge of domestic sewage and industrial wastewater.

　　In the 1980s, the public reacted very strongly, and the management of Yaodang Lake was put on the agenda by the government. In 1988, a special conference on "Comprehensive Harnessing of Langdang Lake" was held in Xiamen. The host of the conference was the supreme leader comrade of the Standing Committee of Xiamen Municipal Committee and executive deputy mayor at that time. He laid down the twenty principles of "governing the lake according to law, intercepting pollution, dredging and building banks, invigorating water bodies and beautifying the environment" for the harness of Langdang Lake. At the same time, it was decided that Xiamen would invest 10 million yuan every year for three years.

　　At that time, Zhang Yihe, deputy director of the Public Utilities Bureau of Xiamen City, Fujian Province, introduced that the General Secretary set the "Twenty Cross" policy, which opened a precedent for ecological protection, ecological restoration and water pollution control, and was the "first shot" of Xiamen.

　　After that, the Xiamen Municipal Government issued the Measures for the Administration of Yaodang Lake, which shut down and relocated polluting enterprises according to law, and built the first sewage treatment plant by the side of Yaodang Lake. After large-scale dredging, the cleared silt piled up in the middle of the lake. Channels between Yaodang Lake and the open sea were opened, and the greening work on the shore was followed up. In 1992, the first dragon boat race was held on Yaodang Lake.

　　Guo Fang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that at that time, our context was "development is the last word". At that time, it was very forward-looking to be able to propose not to exchange the environment for the development of one place at a time. Twenty words for the management of Yaodang Lake well embody the concept of systematic management and scientific management.

　　In the past 36 years, Yundang Lake has undergone five large-scale management, and the mechanism of the mayor’s management of the lake has continued to this day. Today, a digital sewage management system has been established in the lake area, and the lake can be replaced in less than three days through tidal water intake. The island in the middle of the lake, which was piled up by mud in those years, has now become the home of various birds.

　　Today, the Yundang Lake is not only one of the favorite places for Xiamen residents, but also the area around the island of Yundang Lake has developed into a headquarters economic zone, attracting many domestic and foreign enterprises to settle here.

　　Cui Yonghui, member of the Standing Committee of Fujian Provincial Party Committee and secretary of Xiamen Municipal Party Committee, introduced that the "Twenty-Cross Policy" put forward by General Secretary of the Supreme Leader in that year contained profound thoughts on world outlook and methodology such as people first, problem orientation and systematic concept. In the past 36 years, Xiamen has always followed the "Twenty Crosses" policy, drawing a blueprint to the end, and doing it one after another. The smelly water lake in the past has become a good place for citizens to relax and a city meeting room today.

　　During his work in Xiamen, the Supreme Leader always attached great importance to the protection of the ecological environment. In addition to putting forward the management policy of Ershizi Langdang Lake, the Economic and Social Development Strategy of Xiamen from 1985 to 2000, which he presided over, devoted a chapter to the urban system and ecological environment in Xiamen. In 2000, the development of the special zone in Xiamen Island was booming, but the gap between the districts outside the island was obvious. At this time, Xiamen came to a crossroads of development.

　　Cui Yonghui, member of the Standing Committee of Fujian Provincial Party Committee and secretary of Xiamen Municipal Party Committee, introduced that in June 2002, the supreme leader comrade, then governor of Fujian Province, went deep into Xiamen to investigate and put forward the strategy of "promoting the development of the island and crossing the island", further expounding the idea of unifying urban development transformation and ecological environment protection.

　　Guanyinshan Beach is one of the largest beaches in the northeast of Xiamen. Even if the cold wave comes, it can’t stop tourists from loving the sea. There have been beaches in the northeast of Xiamen Island since ancient times. However, 20 years ago, due to activities such as oyster breeding and dredging in the open sea, this beach was degraded and eroded, and almost turned into a rocky hill. At that time, several bays around Xiamen Island were facing similar problems. The water quality in the bays deteriorated and the coastal erosion was serious. To achieve cross-sea development, Xiamen must first comprehensively improve the bay.

　　Zhou Lumin, then deputy director of Xiamen Ocean and Fisheries Bureau, Fujian Province, said that the renovation of the Bay Area has created a good condition for the development of the whole city, and our focus has been on improving from pollution prevention to ecosystem health.

　　In the face of more complicated bay governance, the twenty-cross policy of Yundang Lake governance once again provides guidance. Xiamen has successively issued more than 10 laws and regulations related to marine protection. According to the law, various bays have started to retreat aquaculture, dredge and renovate, and return reclamation to the sea. After land sewage is collected and treated, it is discharged into the sea, and special forces are organized to clean up marine floating garbage daily. Xiamen has also transformed seven seawalls to accelerate the flow of seawater and promote the self-repair of marine ecosystems.

　　In 2006, Guanyinshan Beach also began to be restored. Experts used 1.2 million cubic meters of sand to restore it in multiple stages. The widest part of the 2.4-kilometer beach reached more than 80 meters, which was wider than the general beach. Although the other development space on the shore was compressed, it made it one of the hottest beaches in Xiamen.

　　At the same time, according to their natural conditions, some different bays in Xiamen built romantic beach trails, some planted mangroves, and some built wetland parks. After the improvement of natural ecological environment, it not only promoted the warming of tourism economy, but also attracted the arrival of other industries. The business district opposite Guanyinshan Beach has attracted many corporate headquarters.

　　Cui Yonghui, member of the Standing Committee of Fujian Provincial Party Committee and secretary of Xiamen Municipal Party Committee, said that Xiamen has always followed the requirements of the Supreme Leader General Secretary, adhered to sustainable development, persisted in development for the people, and left the most beautiful coastal space as a public product to citizens and tourists. If these are willing to give up anything, what I want is a higher quality living environment and a higher quality industrial form. Facts have proved that high-level protection and high-quality development can be unified.

　　In the new era, under the scientific guidance of the supreme leader’s ecological civilization thought, the construction of Xiamen’s bay city has also entered a new stage. Junying Village is the highest elevation village in Xiamen, where villagers have been relying on tea tree cultivation to develop their economy. In 1986 and 1997, the supreme leader comrades who worked in Fujian at that time came here twice, and each time they paid attention to the environment and development here.

　　Gao Quanwei, secretary of the Party branch of Junying Village, Xiamen City, Fujian Province, introduced the first time that he talked about "development under the mountain with a hat on the mountain". At that time, he saw that all the trees in our village were cut down, and even the weeds were cut back as fertilizer. In fact, he told us to manage the mountain and the water. The second time, we were told not only to plant tea and fruit, but also to make the forest green.

　　The mountain spring flowing out of Junying Village drops into a river, flows into Dongxixi, the longest river in Xiamen, all the way to the sea, and finally flows into Tongan Bay in Xiamen. In the past, the water quality of Dongxixi could not be guaranteed because of the incomplete collection of domestic sewage in the upper reaches and the discharge of agricultural planting and breeding sewage, which also affected the environment of Tongan Bay.

　　Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has begun to explore the delineation of the ecological protection red line. A large area of Xiamen, including Junying Village, has been included in the ecological red line, and all kinds of polluting planting and breeding in the red line have begun to retreat, and economic activities have given way to ecological conservation.

　　Wang Hetuan, director of the Ecological Environment Bureau of Tongan District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province, said that the red line can never be developed and cannot be polluted. We have established an ecological compensation mechanism to compensate for retirement through other means. Dongxixi is divided into 31 control zones for zoning management and development.

　　In 2023, after the publication of the first outline of national land and space planning in China, Xiamen took the lead in compiling and implementing the "Xiamen Land and Space Master Plan (2021-2035)", establishing a protection pattern from the top of the mountain to the ocean, and clearly positioning the functions of each region.

　　Sun Shuxian, Vice Minister of Natural Resources, said that Xiamen is at the forefront of national multi-regulation, strengthening the management and control of marine and coastal land space, and coordinating and solving the spatial contradictions and conflicts in ecological construction, environmental protection and social and economic development, and has achieved remarkable results.

　　Nowadays, after more than 30 years of afforestation, the hills around Junying Village are lush, and the village relies on green industries such as tea and eco-tourism to get rid of poverty and become rich. In the area where the East-West Stream passes, after the pollution sources have been cleared, urban rainwater and sewage diversion and rural sewage transformation have been carried out, and the water quality has been greatly improved. After restoration, the river bank near the river basin has become a good place for citizens to relax and entertain.

　　Tongan New Town in the lower reaches of Dongxixi River, relying on a good ecological environment, has built a livable and suitable Xiamen Science City, attracting a large number of high-tech enterprises and scientific research teams to settle in.

　　In the past 36 years, starting from the policy of "the Twenty-Cross Lake", Xiamen has developed from a harbor-type scenic city to a bay-type eco-city, which has helped high-quality development with high-level marine ecological restoration, providing valuable experience for other cities in China to balance high-level protection and high-quality development.

　　Sun Shuxian, Vice Minister of Natural Resources, said that "Xiamen Practice" vividly explained the profound connotation of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and strongly proved that Bihai Yintan is also Jinshan Yinshan, which inspired us to pay attention to the unity of high-quality development and high-level protection and restoration, and plan development from the height of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

　　Zhao Chenxi, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader has guided Xiamen to embark on a high-quality development path of harmonious coexistence between man and the ocean. In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will take adhering to high-quality development as the last word in the new era, sum up and apply the important experience and practices of the "Xiamen Practice" of the supreme leader’s ecological civilization thought to the development and reform work, deepen the high-level protection and high-quality development of land, river basins, bays and sea areas, and push the construction of beautiful China to a new level.

　　Today’s Xiamen "looks up at the fresh blue and looks around at the pleasant green". From the "twenty-cross" policy of governing the Yundang Lake, to the scientific management and restoration of Xiamen Bay, and then to the establishment of ecological protection pattern from the top of the mountain to the ocean, in 36 years, Xiamen has created a good ecological base for urban development, explored a high-quality development road, and has also become a window to show the world the construction of ecological civilization with China characteristics. Every piece of mountain and sea is a precious natural resource, and we need to cherish it and take good care of it, so as to become a beautiful scenery that benefits the people and boost the economy.