Maoming has focused more on protecting its natural environment in recent years.

Haoxin Lake in Maoming, with its beautiful scenery, attracts many tourists. However, tourists now would hardly believe that less than a century ago, this area used to be severely polluted.

Haoxin Lake in Maoming. [Photo/WeChat account: maofabu]

In the 1950s, the Maoming Petrochemical Refinery was established near the lake, and it opened the largest open-pit oil shale mine in South China. In 1961, the mine and the shale retorting unit were also put into operation. While the open-pit mine helped to ease the country's oil shortage, it also caused air pollution and water pollution. In addition, the huge mine posed as a safety concern, as it may cause geological disasters such as landslide, collapse and debris flow.

In order to protect the environment, Maoming gave up the lucrative idea of opening kaolin and coal industries in the area, and instead transformed the old mine into an ecological park and open-pit mine museum.

Maoming Open-pit Mine Museum. [Photo/WeChat account: maofabu]

Over the past five years, Maoming has invested more than 4 billion yuan ($583 million) to protect the environment and has built a number of internationally advanced facilities that are both energy saving and for environmental protection. All emission indicators in the area are now far better than the national standards. Maoming's air quality consistently ranks among the top in Guangdong. During this period, Maoming also saved 920,000 metric tons of standard coal and 58.89 million tons of water.