Construction Has Changed China over the Past 100 Years

This book takes one hundred years since modern times as a time scale to tell about China’s geographical changes and the creations of the Chinese people during the process of modernization， and present the great shaping surface on the blue planet. It depicts the representative geographical and cultural landscapes and natural features of China through original photographic pictures and words full of emotions. Readers can understand the natural world they live in while enjoying the visual feast and collect with the beauty of nature in a perceptible way.

Hi I’m China （The Second Volume）

Institute for Planets

CITIC Press Group

July 2021

198.00 （CNY）

Institute for Planets

Founded in 2016， Institute for Planets is a professional organization for geographic science popularization. It focuses on exploring the extreme world， deconstructing everything in the world， and recognizing the world and human beings from a geographic view. In 2018， Institute for Planets was honored as “China’s Top 10 Popular Science We-Media” by People’s Daily and China Association for Science and Technology. In 2019， it launched Hi I’m China， a collectable worthy national geographical book， which won the honors of “Good Book in China，” “Wenjin Book Award，” “Excellent Popular Science Book in China，” etc.

The past century has witnessed unprecedented changes in China， so we can no longer view Chinese geography from a traditional perspective. Megacities have formed new “mountains，” vertical and horizontal road networks have formed new “rivers，” and energy， minerals， and water resources are being mobilized and reorganized on a large scale. This is an unprecedented shaping on the surface of the blue planet.

Restoration

In 1978， a super project was launched at the same time as the reform and opening-up. There was no steel torrent， but grasses and trees that seemed weak yet full of vitality. The project has not been completed yet. Its planned construction period is as long as 73 years and won’t be completed until 2050. The project is aimed to achieve ecological restoration such as windbreaks， sand fixation， and soil and water conservation in 13 provinces， autonomous regions， and municipalities in Northwest China， North China， and Northeast China （the Three Norths） and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. It is the Three-North Shelterbelt Project， the largest forestry ecological project in the world by far.

Although the Three-North Shelterbelt Project went through detours at the beginning of its implementation， such as the unreasonable setting of the proportion of trees and shrubs， and untimely tending of trees， which resulted in a low rate of forest formation in the early stage of the project， the project still greatly improved the ecological environment of the Three-North region. The area of soil erosion in the region has decreased by more than 66%. The desertified land in Horqin Sandy Land， Mu Us Sandy Land， Hetao Plain， and other places has been reduced， and the ecological situation has improved.

Since then， China has successively implemented a series of ecological projects， including the Shelterbelt System Construction Project in the Middle and Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River， the Shelterbelt System Construction Project in the Coastal Areas， the Comprehensive Control Project of Rocky Desertification in Karst Areas， the Natural Forest Protection Project， the Green for Grain Project， and the Wind and Sand Source Control Project in Beijing and Tianjin. These projects planted forests with an average area of 1.25 times the area of Shenzhen every year. The forest coverage rate across the country increased from about 11.4% in 1949 to 23.6% in 2020. The newly added forest area is equivalent to the area of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

After a series of remediation， the Loess Plateau， whose ecology had deteriorated for thousands of years， has become green everywhere， and the situation of soil erosion has significantly taken a turn for the better. From 1999 to 2015， the cumulative area of farmland returning to forests in only Yan’an， the holy land of revolution， was as high as 10.7 million mu （1 mu =0.0667 hectares）. This also quickly decreased the average annual sediment transport of the Yellow River by more than 90%， which had been flooding for thousands of years. Even the Yellow River Delta， which used to be enlarged by the constant sediment of the Yellow River， began to shrink at an average annual rate of 2.53 square kilometers. The water in the Yellow River has become much clearer. The world has changed throughout the ages.

In addition to greening our homeland， we also need to protect our blue sky. The complex causes of air pollution determine that the fight against smog must be a continuous national movement. Millions of households have ended the history of burning loose coal under the “Coal to Gas” or “Coal to Electricity” policy. Behind the change is the support of a series of projects such as the West-East gas transmission pipeline and the West-East electricity transmission project. All coal-fired power units in China have been equipped with waste gas treatment facilities， and the backward coal production capacity has been eliminated. In rural areas， a large amount of straw was turned into fertilizer and feed to replace direct burning. In cities， the proportion of rail transit has almost multiplied， and many cities have imposed restrictions on the purchase and travel of gas-powered vehicles. In 2020， the annual production and sales volume of new energy vehicles in China ranked first in the world for the sixth consecutive year， with a cumulative sales volume of 5.5 million vehicles.

After a series of actions， in Beijing， once the most smog-ridden city， three-quarters of the year 2020 was fine air quality days. The average proportion of fine days in 337 prefecture-level and above cities reached 87%.

In China， there are also water environment treatment projects to achieve the goal of “clear water.” Taking the Yangtze River as an example， iron-handed measures were implemented along the banks of the main streams and tributaries in the Yangtze River Basin， and chemical enterprises were forced to shut down or be relocated. As a result， the water quality has rapidly improved， with 83.4% of the sections with excellent water quality （Class I-- III） and 0.6% of the sections with inferior Class V. We are also fighting a battle to keep our lands pollution-free， including many measures such as prohibiting foreign garbage from entering and emission reduction of heavy metals.

On our land， we should not only improve the living space of human beings， but also live in harmony with other species. By the end of 2019， 11，800 protected areas of various types had been built in China， accounting for 18% of China’s land area and 4.1% of the sea area under national jurisdiction. Ten national park system pilots， including Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park， Qilian Mountain National Park， Three-River-Source National Park， and Giant Panda National Park， have been built， covering a total area of about 220，000 square kilometers， which is equivalent to the area of a province in the eastern region.

The battle to keep our environment green， our skies blue， our water clear， our lands pollution-free， and the various protected areas safe is part of our efforts to restore the ecological environment.