Qingzhen invests 3.14b yuan in environmental improvements

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), the county-level city of Qingzhen in Southwest China's Guizhou province invested 3.14 billion yuan ($0.49 billion) in environmental restoration and protection. 

Qingzhen adopted various methods to manage the environment of Hongfeng Lake and its surroundings and completed the relocation of 195 households along Hongfeng Lake. It treated 17,000 mu (1,133.3 hectares) of contaminated farmlands, built and put 34 parks into use, and completed the Hongfeng Lake Ecological Sports Park's mercury pollution treatment project. 

As a result, the water quality of Hongfeng Lake has remained stable at the third-class standard for a long time – a significant improvement compared with before.

The excellent air quality rate of Qingzhen city stabilized at above 97 percent. The city ranked second in the annual air quality rankings of regions administered by Guiyang city, the capital of Guizhou province, for the past five years. Also, its forest coverage rate reached 51.45 percent.

The city was recognized as a standard county for water-saving, one of the top 100 counties for summer tourism in China and among the top 100 cities for good air quality in China. 

Che Weiwei contributed to this story.