Building a beautiful China

In April 2019, the beautiful spring season in Beijing, people from 110 countries and international organizations gathered at the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019. Set in a charming natural surrounding at the foot of the Great Wall and by the Guishui River, the exhibition was as a matter of fact immersed with nature, sending a strong message about China's efforts to go with green development. 

Mankind is in eternal pursuit of beauty and a beautiful environment is an essential dimension of our pursuit of happiness. Building a beautiful China is a long-term mission that bears on the sustainable development of the Chinese nation and the wellbeing of over a billion people. The CPC, at its 19th National Congress, drew up a clear roadmap for a homeland with blue skies, green landscapes, and clean waters. 

Building a beautiful China is an extremely complex process that requires changes in our mindset, modes of development and governance, to name a few. It therefore requires holistic planning at the top level. An important task for now and the near future is to promptly set up a system that includes the cultural, economic, institutional and security dimensions of ecological conservation and a target responsibility mechanism. With such a system in place, we expect to basically complete our goal for a beautiful China by 2035, and to fully realize it by the middle of this century. 

Green is the color of life and nature. Green development, which underpins a beautiful China, is what the people want, and the course of action that will lead to a prosperous economy. Good environment has great economic value in itself, which will be a continuous source of support to sustainable economic and social development. To build a beautiful China, we must change the traditional ways of production and lifestyle so that we can achieve the goals for both economic development and environmental protection. To make development green, we need to adjust the economic and energy structures, with more environment-friendly industries, and increased conservation and recycling. Meanwhile, we need to encourage a low-carbon and energy saving lifestyle. We will also promote a culture of conservation in organizations, households, schools and communities so that the society as a whole will embrace a healthy and green life. 

Pollution control holds the key to a beautiful China. Air quality in major cities has improved significantly in comparison with the recent past, with lower concentration of PM2.5, less CO2 emission intensity, marked improvement in ground water quality, and more effective control of soil pollution. But heavy air pollution days, black and stinky water bodies, trash besieging cities and rural environmental pollution remain serious public concerns. We must do our best, with a strong resolve and the participation of all stakeholders, to fight pollution of air, water and soil, improve rural living environments, and build our capacity for pollution control, so that people can enjoy a pleasant natural environment. 

Ice and snow are also as precious as gold 

Ice and snow are valuable ecological resources. As economic transition takes place in some localities, ice and snow have been used to promote economic growth, turning "cold" resources into "hot" opportunities. According to the China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Report 2018, the number of ice and snow tourists reached 197 million, bring in 330 billion yuan in revenue during the winter of 2017-2018; the number is expected to reach 340 million with 680 billion yuan in revenue during the winter of 2012-2022. 

Ecological conservation is the foundation of a beautiful China. As we work to control pollution and reduce pollutant discharge, we must also increase the carrying capacity of the environment. In this way, pollution will have a smaller impact on the environment. The red line for ecological conservation must be strictly enforced. Major projects will be undertaken to protect and conserve ecosystems. Ecological security will be strengthened with ecological corridors and a network to protect biodiversity. Consequently, a community of life will emerge, with mountains, rivers, forests, streams, farm fields, grassy meadows and all others things in nature depending on and interacting with each other. We need also to stay on guard against risks and properly handle ecological or environmental challenges of any kind. 

Building a beautiful China needs strong institutional support, which must be quickly put in place. To resolve the problem of poor coordination and buck-passing among too many responsible agencies, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment was established in 2018. It oversees and leads the country's environmental protection efforts across the board, in all areas, on the ground and underground, over land and in the sea, in cities and rural areas, against carbon monoxide and dioxide, in a consistent nationwide effort to control pollution and protect the environment. With the effective implementation of existing reform measures, we will, as a next step, launch fresh reform programs to tackle outstanding issues. For this purpose, we will shore up institutional arrangements such as environmental protection inspection by the central government, commercialization pilots of ecological goods and services, credit rating for environmental protection performance, mandatory release of environmental information, and severe punishment for environmental violations. These reform programs are expected to drive and incentivize greater environmental efforts. 

Over the past 70 years, we have worked persistently for a new China. As we look into the future, we are inspired by the vision of a beautiful China. We believe that with Xi Jinping thought on environment as the guiding principle, we will work as one to advance ecological progress, and, with persistent and ceaseless efforts, will achieve our goal for a beautiful homeland with blue skies, green landscapes, and clean waters, one that we will be able to pass on to future generations. 

The views don't necessarily reflect those of Qiushi Journal.