Since putting forward its goal of building itself into an ecological county-level city at the 14th CPC Maoming Municipal Congress, Xinyi has made significant achievements in its ecological development. 

Recently, the county-level city ranked second in the economic and social development assessment of various districts in Maoming, Guangdong province. In addition, the Xinyi Water Environment Governance Center's smart platform project was designated the most satisfactory ecological and environmental protection project among Maoming's counties, districts, and county-level cities.

Xinyi has implemented a three-level river chief system, in which officials at all levels are designated river chiefs and are given specific responsibilities. Last year, 624 Party members patrolled the river 27,817 times, as well as found and rectified 5,212 problems, leading to a rectification rate of 100 percent.

In addition to its water treatment efforts, Xinyi promotes afforestation projects. Xinyi has built a new 34-kilometer forest landscape belt of 34 kilometers, eight forest parks, as well as 174 rural greening and beautification demonstration sites. The city's forest coverage rate reached 68.28 percent, expanding its tourism resources.

Xinyi has also built 135 new water sources, installed 147 sets of integrated intelligent water supply facilities, and newly laid more than 2,700 km of its water pipeline network. It has completed the task of centralized water supply for about 210,000 people, as well as completed seven small and medium-sized river treatment projects.

Relying on its abundant mountain forest water resources, Xinyi has vigorously developed its eco-tourism industry. It has encouraged people to participate in the construction and operation management of its ecological belt, as well as promoting the construction of the 139-km ring road. Last year, the city received a total of 25.43 million tourists, generating 14.96 billion yuan ($2.35 billion) in tourism revenue, with an average annual growth of 18.3 percent and 27.0 percent respectively.

At present, 370 villages in Xinyi have reached the standard of clean and tidy villages, while 218 villages have reached the standard of beautiful and livable villages. The coverage of village cleaning, the garbage disposal rate, and the penetration rate of sanitary household toilets have all reached 100 percent. Six villages in Xinyi were also selected to be in the top 10 beautiful tourist villages of Maoming.

Qianpai town in Xinyi, a county-level city in Maoming, Guangdong province. [Photo/Yangcheng Evening News]