"Looking up is the fresh blue, looking around is the pleasant green." In September 2017, President Xi Jinping introduced the city where he worked during the BRICS leaders' meeting in Xiamen.

　　The once dark and smelly Yuandang Lake has transformed into Xiamen’s “urban living room” today. It is hard for people to imagine that Yundang Lake, with its flying egrets and rippling blue waves, was once a "disaster" in Xiamen and endangered Xiamen's reputation as a "garden on the sea."

　　Since the 1970s, Xiamen's urban development has sought land toward the sea, building embankments and reclaiming land from the sea. Yuandang Port, located in the southwest of Xiamen Island, has become Yuandang Lake. A large amount of urban sewage was discharged into it, resulting in the extinction of birds, fish and shrimps.

　　"When will Yuandang Lake cease to be black and smelly?" The voice of the citizens attracted the attention of Xi Jinping, then executive deputy mayor of Xiamen. In March 1988, Xi Jinping presided over a special meeting on "Comprehensive Improvement of Yuandang Lake", which started a tough battle to control environmental pollution in Xiamen.

　　At this meeting, Xi Jinping proposed a 20-character general policy for lake management - "govern the lake in accordance with the law, intercept and treat sewage, dredge and build banks, revitalize water bodies, and beautify the environment."

　　For more than 30 years, the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and Government have always followed the lake management strategy proposed by Xi Jinping and implemented the 20-character policy. After many rounds of improvements, the transformation of Yundang Lake has become a vivid practice in the construction of ecological civilization in Xiamen.

　　During his tenure in Xiamen, Xi Jinping took the lead in formulating the "Xiamen Economic and Social Development Strategy from 1985 to 2000", which for the first time included a special chapter on "ecological and environmental issues" in the regional economic and social development plan, and emphasized that "protecting the environment is crucial."

　　Today's Xiamen, urban and rural areas are like Yuandang Lake, showing an ecological picture of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

　　Producer | Geng Zhimin

　　Producer丨Du Xiaodong Wu Xuan

　　Director | Yang Chengkai

　　Reporters丨Lin Zhou, Chen Geng, Yang Chengkai

　　Photography丨Chen Lei

　　Dubbing丨Wang Shuaitian

　　Editing | Yang Chengkai

　　Packaging丨Wang Haihan Yan Jia

　　Proofreading丨Liu Xuefeng

　　Coordinator丨Yang Bo, Liu Xiao, Maohui

　　Assist in filming丨Headquarters Fujian Headquarters Propaganda Department of Xiamen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China Xiamen Yuandang Lake Protection Center Xiamen Station Xie Fangfang Zhang Yajing Xiamen Municipal Archives