Haikou, the capital of China's southernmost Hainan province and a renowned tourist city famous for its charming coconut trees and warm sunshine, is transforming itself into a destination that also features rich and lush wetlands, thanks to enviable progress made in the restoration of its local ecosystems.

For locals, it's all been good.

The Meishe River, known as Haikou's "mother river," is now a favorite place for retired worker Lao Zheng and his friends to hang out.

"We rarely came to the river in previous years, because many parts were terribly smelly," he said.

"Now you can see egrets flying overhead. There are lots of people around and the other day we even saw a couple of people taking a nap under the nearby banyan trees," he said.

A number of new wetlands including the Meishe River National Wetland Park and Wuyuan River National Wetland Park emerged to become new attractions for tourists and nearby residential communities last year, as a result of the major ecological restoration drive made by the city government in recent years.