Verdant Mountains and Blue Seas: Beautiful Dalian and Its Charming Bay

After the National Day holiday, another 200 or more oriental white storks flew to Zhangjiacun Village, Shuangdaowan Sub-district, Lyushunkou District of Dalian City. The village has become a perpetual winter habitat for these birds.

Zhangjiacun Village, surrounded by mountains and facing the sea, is known to the public after an occasional rescue of oriental white storks in the winter of 2010. Thanks to greater investment in ecological and environmental protection in the village, what was once a fetid marsh has been transformed into a vast wetland teeming with fish and shrimps. The pleasing natural environment has in turn led to a sound relationship between people and birds, with a winter uptick in photographers visiting the village from all over the country. This is also how increased prosperity for Zhangjiacun Village was made by protecting the local ecology.

Leng Wanjun, Secretary of the Zhangjiacun Village General Branch of CPC, spoke with reporters proudly about the village's new reputation as a habitat for oriental white storks. The annual per capita income of the village's 2,321 inhabitants and 993 households has risen to nearly CNY 30,000. The villagers live a prosperous life, and the oriental white storks are regarded locally as an auspicious symbol. Zhangjiacun Village gives full play to its characteristic resource as a habitat of oriental white storks, to coordinate its overall development and spares no effort in its search for ecological value and development potential. The village won the 2018 Ecological Livability Award for the Best Villages and Towns in China and registered a trademark named Mei Guan (literally beautiful stork). Apples bearing the Mei Guan trademark have come to be recognized as high-quality products under the Chinese One Village, One Product policy. In the future, Zhangjiacun Village will continue green development and broaden channels for transforming ecological resources into invaluable assets. It will highlight the quality and characteristics of village products and strive to create a new development pattern integrating the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries. The village will follow the new ecological development path that combines agriculture and tourism and do its best to build a practice and innovation base for the "two mountains" concept, according to which "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets".

The graph of Xinghai Bay

The ten years following the 18th CPC National Congress have witnessed a revitalization of Dalian. It has also been a period of urban investment in ecological development and environmental protection aimed at the most practical measures and the fastest and most significant achievements. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, Dalian is mindful of the saying "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" and has prioritized ecological protection and green development. The city has carried out a variety of key tasks in an orderly manner to prevent and control pollution and emphasized targeted, scientific, and law-based pollution control. Meanwhile, it spares no effort in its fight against major pollution, namely air, water, and land pollution to ensure that our sky is blue, water is clear, and land is clean. The quality of the ecological environment has achieved a historic change.

In 2021, the weather was fine for 321 days and the number of days with good weather has exceeded 300 days for five consecutive years. The PM 2.5 of Dalian reduced to 28 μg per cubic meter, helping the city enter the top 20 for low PM 2.5 for the first time and also hitting a record high in the history of Dalian. The city carried out water resource, ecological, and environmental improvement measures, ensuring eight rivers in Dalian pass the 13 national assessments for water sections every month. 92.3 percent of the water has been assessed as good quality, with the number reaching more than 98 percent in offshore areas.

Dalian's sika deer have prospered from the earliest several heads that escaped from their feeders.

Dalian's southern coastal area, starting from Bangchui Island in the east and ending at Lianhua Mountain in the west, is where visitors may see lively sika deer with antlers. Dalian's sika deer have prospered from the earliest several heads that escaped from their feeders. The number of deer has increased from less than 40 to over 200 in the last ten years and they meet the biologists' common standards to be identified as wildlife. Volunteers have established six sites for deer watching along the journey from Baiyun Mountain to Lianhua Mountain. In addition to offering feed, volunteers also patrol mountains regularly to help injured sika deer. Thus, the region has become a popular attraction, with residents and tourists coming for the sika deer every day.

The reappearance of wild sika deer in Dalian's urban areas is the best example of how humans and nature can coexist harmoniously. It also reflects the improvement of the urban ecological environment and how people have strengthened their awareness of environmental protection.

Statistics show that Dalian has been approved for the establishment of a national pilot demonstration zone for ecological civilization, honored with titles of National Forest City and the first Beautiful Landscape City of China, and selected as a national low-carbon pilot city and a national pilot city for climate change adaptation.

In the past ten years, it has succeeded in creating an ecological civilization with complete systems and coordinated economic, social, and ecological development. Therefore, the past decade also witnessed how people attained the strongest-ever sense of happiness, gain, and security while enjoying the achievements of ecological protection. For the residents of Dalian, these are all reflected in idyllic, verdant mountains, blue seas, a clear sky, and beautiful bays.