BEIJING, Aug. 19,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Upon entering the island village
of Xinjian in Zhoushan, an archipelago city in East China's
Zhejiang Province, the Global
Times was welcomed by a picturesque rural scene of verdant
mountains, babbling brooks, fluttering butterflies, and chirping
birds, alongside impressive modern features such as photovoltaic
panels adorning rooftops, electric sightseeing vehicles, and a
state-of-the-art sewage recycling system.
Twenty years ago, this small village was unnoticed,
impoverished, and isolated. The only link to the outside world was
a rough, bumpy road. On rainy days, the road became so muddy that
villagers hesitated to wear their new shoes. On sunny days, groups
of villagers would trek up the mountain to chop down trees and haul
them through the village via this road to sell to brick kiln
operators to eke out a living. Due to poverty, most young adults
left the village to find work elsewhere, leaving only a few senior
citizens to tend to their old homes and the stream in front of
their doors.
Was there a way out? What kind of life did the villagers want to
live?
An innovative initiative dubbed the "Thousand Villages
Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" project
provided an answer.
In June 2003, under the guidance
of Xi Jinping, who once served as the provincial Party chief,
Zhejiang launched the Green Rural
Revival Program, which selects 10,000 administrative villages in
the province for comprehensive improvement, and plans to turn 1,000
of them into demonstration villages of moderate prosperity in all
respects.
This project has created a large number of beautiful villages
in Zhejiang, benefiting countless farmers and jumpstarting a
new era of building a "Beautiful China."
Xinjian village is one such example.
A decade later, on May 25, 2015, Xi,
general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visited Xinjian
village for inspection, believing it to be a typical representative
of a "beautiful economy" and a confirmation that "lucid waters and
lush mountains are invaluable assets." Xi emphasized, "It is
scientific and sustainable development that we should strive
toward."
Net-zero carbon, also known as carbon neutrality, refers to
offsetting greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide generated by
human activities through energy conservation and emission
reduction, industrial adjustment, afforestation, and other forms of
environmental conservation, ultimately achieving the goal of
"net-zero emissions."
During a recent field visit, the Global Times delved into the
secrets behind the village's success in its "net-zero carbon" goal
and gained a deeper insight into how this island village is
effectively implementing Xi's concept that "A 'Beautiful
China' is built upon beautiful villages. It is imperative that we
steadfastly adhere to this path, ensuring that lucid waters and
lush mountains yield continuous ecological, social, and economic
benefits."
Power station in the sky
Under the guidance of Lu Haifeng, deputy secretary of the
Xinjian village Party branch, the Global Times visited the Nandong
Homestay Area in the village and heard an interesting story. At the
beginning of construction, the branches of a plum tree reach toward
the windows on the second floor of building No.9. Due to lighting
issues, this tree was supposed to be removed. However, it was
already a century old, so local villagers decided not to remove it.
The designers then changed their approach and doubled the size of
the windows on the side of the room, preserving the existing tree
while ensuring adequate lighting.
During the construction process, local materials were utilized
with idle old wood mostly being used to reduce material
transportation. The entire homestay building is fitted with
double-layer insulated glass, with the summer air conditioning
demand being 63 percent less than that of buildings fitted with
single-layer glass. The homestay building also has an exhaust heat
recovery unit, which can recover energy from the air being
exhausted outside, minimizing the loss of cold or heat sources
indoors in summer or winter.
It is estimated that compared with Shanghai, the homestay building in the
village can save up to 15.7 percent more energy than the hotel with
the lowest energy consumption in Shanghai, according to data provided by Ge
Linlu, a staff member at the publicity office of Ganlan township,
Dinghai district.
After leaving the Nandong Homestay Area, Lu took the Global
Times reporter to see the wind power energy storage project.
Walking to the parking lot, Lu pointed to the gray solar panel on a
farmhouse rooftop, saying that this is a special "power station in
the sky" that provides shade while being environmentally
friendly.
"This is the wind power energy storage project that we have
started building since the development of clean energy," Lu
told the Global Times. "The solar and wind energy resources in
Dinghai district (which administers Xinjian village) are abundant,
and by combining wind power equipment on mountain tops with
installing photovoltaic equipment on the roofs of farmhouses, we
can provide clean energy for the village's landscape facilities,
electric vehicles, and more."
The photovoltaic rooftop panels also utilize roof space without
taking up land resources, Lu added.
Among the completed projects, the average annual power
generation of photovoltaic modules can reach 21,000 kW per
hour, and annual carbon emissions can be reduced by about 12.14
tons.
At present, the village is working with an expert team
from Tongji University in Shanghai to plan the construction of new
energy projects in the Nandong reservoir, train station square, and
other points, and realize the functions of heat insulation,
lighting, and power generation through the introduction of green
technology such as photovoltaic tiles, she said.
Disappeared foul-smelling ditch
Passing through the Nandong Daxi pit in the village, a bay
of clear water flows gently.
"In order to prevent sewage from affecting the environment and
promote water recycling, we dispose of domestic sewage and septic
tank water centrally every day. After more than 10 treatment
processes, the sewage is then used for irrigation," Lu said.
"In this way, the once foul-smelling sewage ditch has disappeared,
and a lot of water has been saved."
Not far away, the Global Times noticed that the water in the pit
comes from the upstream reservoir. The water flows down in a
step-like manner along the terrain, passing through ecological
swimming pools, ponds, pits, and households, and is finally
purified through the sewage treatment plant before being used for
irrigation.
"Our sewage treatment plant can process 10 tons of sewage per
hour, and operates 24 hours a day during peak season,"
said Lu. Along with Lu's introduction, the Global Times
saw the water that had undergone multiple treatment processes
flowing clearly from the outlet.
With the rolling out of the "Thousand Villages Demonstration and
Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" project, villagers and tourists
have gradually developed green living habits, and enhanced their
environmental awareness.
Local villagers told the Global Times that they spontaneously
participate in cleaning up garbage, dismantling pig farms,
relocating outdoor manure pits, among other environmental
improvements and infrastructure construction. "It's like
participating in an 'ecological revolution' to protect the
environment and change the appearance of the village."
"This is a natural oxygen bar, a 'beautiful economy,' confirming
that 'lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.' We
always keep Xi's words in mind," said Lu.
This is not an empty phrase.
On the embankment of the Nandong Reservoir, the Chinese characters
"lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" shine
brightly in the sunlight, and on the walls of villagers' houses,
Xi's quotes left during his inspection of the village can be seen
everywhere.
Compared with the mainland area, the islands are relatively
short of fresh water, energy, food, and other resources, and the
economic and social development mainly depends on supplies from the
mainland, so they are more vulnerable to the impact of climate
change on water supply security, food security, tourism, local
economies, and human health.
In 2019, Xinjian village was selected as the UN-Habitat
"Net-Zero Carbon" rural planning case in China. At the forefront of addressing climate
change, the exploration and practice of Xinjian village in
achieving its net-zero carbon goal provide valuable experience for
rural low-carbon development in other small islands and coastal
areas.
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SOURCE Global Times