At the 16th Environment and Development Forum held in early November, the All-China Environment Federation announced the best practices in the Beautiful China Initiative. Chun’an County of Hangzhou was selected as one of the country’s 14 best practices in building a beautiful county.

Located in the hilly area in the west of Zhejiang Province, Chun’an is home to a myriad of mountains and rivers and is the only special eco-functional area in the province. The Qiandao Lake, also known as Thousand Island Lake, is reputed as “the most beautiful freshwater reservoir in the world.” The lake maintains excellent water quality of Grade I and is categorized as one of the first five “China Good Water” water sources. Forest coverage in Chun’an is 74.56 percent, and the proportion of days with good air quality stands above 96 percent. Chun’an has been designated as a national key eco-functional area, a national practice and innovation base for “lucid waters and lush mountains are valuable assets,” and a national ecological civilization construction demonstration zone. It is also a recipient of the China Environment Award.

In 2016, Chun’an issued the Qiandao Lake Environmental Quality Management Specification, the first county-level environmental quality management regulation in China. Its major pollutant discharge standard is 45% higher than the national “Level-I Class-A” discharge standard. Rules on industry access were also laid out to ensure better water quality.

The Qiandao Lake Basin water ecosystem restoration project is among China’s first batch of typical cases in the national initiative for ecological protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasslands, which has been completed across the board. Chun’an cooperated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Zhejiang University to establish the world’s only artificial land bridge research platform for long-term positioning and research and the province’s first reservoir ecosystem research station. Xiu Shui Wei Shi (“Water Quality Guardian”), the first smart water protection and management platform in China, has been in operation. The research project on “ecological floating island + biofilm” is a model project in the province and among the best in drinking water quality monitoring in the country.

Following the concept of “Protection, Development, Prosperity for All,” Chun’an will continue to implement the seven strategic tasks to make its space and environment more beautiful, develop a more prosperous economy, improve the ecology, exercise sound governance, build a more beautiful home, and carry out a comprehensive plan of action. By improving both the “outer beauty” and “inner beauty,” the county strives to be a pacesetter in promoting harmony between humanity and nature and set an example for developing the fourth industry of ecosystem goods.