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MAANSHAN is a young industrial city nestled in lush terrain – half mountainous and half water – in eastern Anhui, on the border with Jiangsu Province. Fifty years ago, it was still a desolate fishing village, with some 50 families living by the side of the lower reaches of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River.

I visited Maanshan during the eventful month of May, when a devastating earthquake struck Sichuan and shocked the entire nation. When the Beijing Olympic Games torch traveled across the country, it did so against a backdrop of national sorrow for the earthquakes victims, and the national willpower and solidarity that the disaster roused. All cities and nations have their historic twists and turns, and walking on the picturesque streets of Maanshan, I wondered what had preceded all this exuberance, and what Maanshan had experienced in its 50-year development.

From Polluted City to

Verdant Garden

In a way, Maanshan is an amplified version of a classic Chinese garden. The Caishiji and Cuiluo hills thrust up on the shore of the Changjiang River, and in between are lakes and garden-like communities. It is a “city within a garden, and a garden within a city.” That was my first impression of Maanshan. However, I was surprised when I was told that it was heavily polluted 20 years ago.

Maanshan was built as a harbinger of New China, when in the 1950s the Chinese government decided to construct and develop its own iron and steel industry in the vast desolate area around a lonely fishing village to break the obstruction and isolation policy of the Western world. The fishing village has since grown and expanded rapidly into a city with the development of its iron and steel works. Today, Masteel has developed into a group operation that is engaged in different business fields, and its iron and steel operation is among the top 10 iron and steel enterprises in China. In 2007, its steel output reached 15 million tons.

Unfortunately, the introduction of the iron and steel industry soon inflicted heavy pollution on the area, creating sooty precipitation, blanketing the city in black smoke and covering the ground in sludge. The poor living conditions prompted the local government and citizens to take action to protect their environment.

A series of municipal projects followed to readjust the citys economic structure, control pollution, reduce energy consumption and develop a recycling economy. Local residents witnessed how Yushan Lake changed from clear water into filth, and back into clear water again. In 2001, the municipal government invested RMB 160 million in connecting the lake with the Changjiang River, so as to make its stagnant waters run. In 2004, it invested another RMB 116 million to remove sources of pollution to the lake, dredging the sludge, changing the water, installing lighting facilities on the banks and planting trees, flowers and lawns. Now, water birds have returned to the island in the restored lake.

The local government has followed a general municipal planning strategy of building Maanshan into a riverside garden city and redirecting its heavy industrial structure to adapt to ecological conservation and a green environment that is congenial for human habitation.

To achieve that, the city has exercised strict pollution control on local industries. Up to now, it has invested RMB 20 billion in environmental management and related technology upgrading, closing all small industrial enterprises banned by state regulations and suspending the operation of heavily polluting businesses until they reach the mandated targets of discharge control. The local government has moved over 20 manufacturing enterprises out of downtown areas into its industrial parks and development zones, so now the city proper is free from industrial waste and noise, and its GDP is assured by green growth.

All these efforts are testified to by the following figures. In 2006, Maanshans municipal GDP increased by 16 percent; its energy consumption rate per unit GDP (RMB 10,000) dropped by 4.7 percent; and its main pollutant discharge dropped by 2 percent. The local residents sum up the citys development over the past half century in three stages: a sleepy fishing village, a polluted workshop, and a garden city.

Overall Social

Development

The citys environmental efforts have brought it a series of honors from domestic and international organizations, including the China Human Settlements Environment Paradigm Award, the UN Dubai International Award for Best Practices in Improving the Living Environment, the National Hygienic City and the National Garden City awards. They mark the citys footprints in turning a stark industrial landscape into an environmentally friendly, modern urban center.

Maanshans natural endowments placed it in a good position to make that transition. Spread along the Changjiang River and boasting picturesque mountains, the area was frequented by many ancient poets and men of letters, who left behind a literary legacy in praise of its scenic beauty. Take the great Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai as an example. He wrote more than 50 poems about the area, and lived out his last days and died in Maanshan. Since 1989, the locals have held an international poetry recitation festival every year in memory of their poetic heritage. Every golden autumn, hundreds of poetry lovers from around the country and the world gather in Maanshan, presenting poem recitations to the accompaniment of ancient music and a beautiful hilly environment by the side of the Changjiang River.

Ding Haizhong, secretary of the municipal CPC committee, believes that poetry helps enhance the morality and social conscience of the citizens and their spiritual well-being. That is why the city has persevered with the promotion of its poetry tradition over the past two decades. Meanwhile, the citizens have gradually come to understand the significance of learning, reciting and writing poems.

The construction of a spiritual civilization has, in fact, been an important means of enhancing urban management, and it is an integral part of building a modern urban civilization, alongside a modern cityscape.

The work, however, must be based on economic and social development. Since 2000, with increasing municipal revenues, the city government has promoted its social security programs step by step. Now basic endowments, along with unemployment and medical insurance, cover more than 98 percent of its inhabitants, and work injury and birth insurance reach 81 percent and 76 percent, respectively.

While taking care of citizens needs and material well-being, the municipal government has meanwhile striven to conscientiously improve the quality of citizenship and promote human development – a work that has proceeded from urban communities to rural villages.

This two-in-one approach has been very effective. As citizens problems are solved, requests satisfied and living conditions improved, they have been very happy to cooperate with and participate in the governments spiritual civilization construction programs.

Southeastern Expansion

“The city (Maanshan) is very lucky to have a vast expanse of waters and nine hills that surround it – a terrain that prevents it from becoming another victim of repetitious modernization plans and saves it from the global sprawl of ‘cement forests,” writes Yan Geling, an overseas writer of Chinese origin.

This “vast expanse of waters” is Yushan Lake, which is a main recreational area, as well as the “green lung” of the city. Both the Yushan and the nearby Jiashan are public parks that are open free of charge.

While enjoying an abundant greenness, the city remains conscious that the population explosion and urban sprawl demand rational municipal planning. In the first 30 years of the city, its urban area was 30 square kilometers. In the following two decades, it expanded by an annual average of, respectively, two and three square kilometers. At the beginning of the new century, the municipal government set the goal of building Maanshan into a modern city with an urban area of 100 square kilometers anda population of one million in 10 to 15 years.

The city has since started a new round of municipal planning and embarked on a southeastern expansion. So far it has finished 28 square kilometers of urban planning designs. As roads and streets expand southeastward to finally complete an urban communication network composed of 18 east-west and eight north-south trunk roads, different functioning urban sections have arisen along the way. The ultimate aim is to build Maanshan into a congenial home for residents, as well as businesses. The green environment and neat municipal facilities all help boost the morale of its citizens in striving toward that end.