As the morning sun cast a golden glow on the surface of Yundang Lake, photographers gathered quietly along its shores, cameras trained on flocks of egrets gliding over the shimmering water.
But decades ago, the pollution of this lake was so severe that few residents would like to approach it.
Once an open harbor along the coast of Xiamen in east China’s Fujian Province, Yundang was turned into an inland lake through reclamation efforts in the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, pollution in the lake became a prominent problem.
“The lake was black and stank so badly you wouldn’t dare open a window. You couldn’t see any egrets at all,” said Peng Zhiwei, 51, a local resident.
The lake’s transformation traces back to a decision by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his early tenure as vice mayor of Xiamen. It was a bold and difficult choice at the time.
In 1988, China was racing toward rapid economic growth, and Xiamen was determined not to be left behind. Yundang Lake offers the most visible marker of the city’s industrialization ambitions.
More than a hundred factories — paper mills, leather makers and breweries — lined its shores, pouring their wastewater straight in. The ecological impact they left was shocking. Pollution was so severe that the lake’s former sparkle seemed almost forgotten, prompting constant complaints from residents.
Does economic growth have to come at the expense of the environment? Should the city invest heavily to heal the lake? Officials were divided over these questions — after all, in a city just at the initial stage of industrialization and financially strained, the cost of cleaning up the lake seemed enormous.
Under a restoration plan, the city would have to set aside 10 million yuan (around 1.48 million U.S. dollars) annually in 1988 and 1989 to restore the ecology of the lake. “It was a huge sum,” said Zhang Yihe, then deputy head of the city’s public utilities bureau, “more than the money invested in the previous ten years combined.”
But Xi took a firm stand, approved the funds, and the restoration effort began. All factories around the lake were shut down or relocated, and the water was thoroughly treated.
“Protecting natural scenic resources has far-reaching and profound significance,” Xi said at a meeting with local legislators in Xiamen.
Xi has a keen awareness of how vital protecting the environment is for humanity’s long-term survival. “Any damage we do to nature will eventually come back to hurt us,” he once warned.
For this reason, he opposes pursuing economic growth at the expense of the environment, calling it a form of “destructive development.”
Xi holds that the ecological environment should be a key factor in assessing economic and social development, and rejects using the GDP growth rate as the sole yardstick for measuring development.
“No matter how impressive a place or department’s performance seems, poor environmental indicators make it all meaningless,” he said.
This approach to governance is clearly demonstrated at Yundang Lake, where the surroundings have been transformed into a thriving wetland park. Nearly a hundred bird species nest along its shores, turning it into a nationally renowned birdwatching site and a magnet for tourists and photographers alike.
“Yundang Lake has become a highlight of the city, and we’re all very proud of it,” said Peng.
The transformation has radiated beyond the water, morphing the city into a lush, vibrant oasis. Celebrated as the “garden on the sea,” Xiamen attracted over 100 million visitors last year, both domestic and international, drawn by its remarkable blend of natural beauty and urban vitality. The city hosted the 9th BRICS Summit in 2017.
The city’s beautiful environment has encouraged the clustering of service-sector businesses and high-value-added industries. The polluting factories that once ringed the lake have been replaced by technology companies, financial firms, and high-end hotels.
Today, Xiamen’s economy is anchored by four key industries: electronic information, machinery and equipment manufacturing, trade and logistics, and financial services.
This combination of environmental quality and industrial development has provided a strong foundation for the city’s sustained economic growth. Over the past four decades, Xiamen’s GDP has grown at an impressive average annual rate of 13.6 percent, five percentage points higher than the national average over the same period.
Xi’s decision years ago to prioritize environmental protection over short-term economic gains has yielded substantial benefits today.
As he put it, a healthy ecosystem is part of the economy, and protecting it is a way of advancing productive capacity.
Beyond Xiamen, Xi has consistently made environmental protection a cornerstone of his governance.
After assuming the country’s top post, Xi led nationwide efforts to reverse environmental damage. He demanded that polluting factories address problems or face closure. China issued a 10-year fishing ban to conserve the Yangtze River that runs through the country. He also gave instructions to demolish illegally constructed villas in the Qinling Mountains, home to giant pandas, snub-nosed monkeys and many other rare wild animals.
Under his leadership, China has contributed roughly 25 percent of the world’s new green coverage in recent years and has built the world’s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system.
Believing that efforts to conserve ecosystems will benefit not only the present generation but many generations to come, Xi urged local authorities to fully implement ecological conservation measures.
Even today, work to restore Yundang Lake continues. Citizen lake chief and volunteers are active around the lake, carrying Xi’s vision of green development from government policy into everyday community action.
“You can truly feel it — everyone here loves Yundang Lake from the heart and wants to protect it,” said Wu Xiaofu, a volunteer.
