Former quarry's green revolution in suburban Beijing

This photo taken on May 12, 2023 shows Donghuashan Village in the Shunyi District of Beijing, capital of China. [Xinhua]

BEIJING -- Liu Zhihe has a notebook. Since he became the village Party chief, he has recorded every piece of the village's change, big and small, in the notebook.

"In 2017, 1.1 hectares of land was vacated as the illegal construction facilities were demolished and the land lease contract of the breeding farm expired." "In 2018, trees were grown on 1.1 hectares of the land in the plain area." "In June 2021, a restoration project at the quarry was launched."

Liu hails from Donghuashan Village in the Shunyi District of suburban Beijing. His notes have demonstrated how Donghuashan has turned from a quarry mining site to a beautiful village with a green landscape.

Liu remembered that change began six years ago when cement enterprises moved out of the village under the guidance of the local government. In the same year, Shunyi District launched a campaign to build an ecological scenery zone.

In 2018, Beijing started a new round of afforestation projects, aiming to plant 1 million mu of trees (66,667 hectares). Liu mobilized the villagers to restore part of the vacated land for farming, while the rest applied for greenery plantations. More trees were planted in the following years, which has improved the local ecology to a large extent.

According to Dasungezhuang Town, where Donghuashan Village is located, the local forest coverage rate has reached nearly 50 percent as the town grew 182.2 hectares of trees in 2022 alone.

Over the past five years, Beijing has outstripped the target of the 1-million-mu tree plantation, with the forest coverage rate reaching 44.8 percent, according to the city's government work report this year.

Donghuashan Village has also replaced coal with natural gas and electricity for heating, upgraded the sewage processing station and the sewage pipeline network, and carried out garbage sorting in recent years.

The much-improved environment has drawn many young villagers to come back, including 28-year-old Xu Bainian.

After graduating from college last year, Xu returned to his hometown and now serves on the village committee.

"I majored in social work in college and hope to contribute to rural revitalization here," he said.

Party chief Liu said the young people returning home have injected vitality into the village.

"With their detailed plans and science-based approaches, the village will grow better," Liu said. 

This photo taken on May 12, 2023 shows an artificial lake at Donghuashan Village in the Shunyi District of Beijing, capital of China. [Xinhua]