Preserving ecosystems

Other areas have also seen their ecosystems recover and have gained better protection thanks to China's efforts to establish nature reserves.

When delivering a report at the opening of the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017, Xi said the country, as part of an effort to build a beautiful China, would develop a nature reserve system composed mainly of national parks.

That idea had its genesis in 2005, when Xi was the Party secretary of Zhejiang province. In August of that year, on a visit to Yucun, a village in Zhejiang's Anji county, Xi praised the local government for stopping mining activities and closing cement factories to deal with a serious pollution problem.

During the visit, Xi put forward his famous development theory that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", which later became known as the "Two Mountains Theory".

The green development philosophy is changing the country, with action plans to fight air, water and soil pollution introduced in recent years and its harshest-ever Environmental Protection Law rolled out.

Ecological civilization was also included in the CPC Constitution as a principle for development at the 18th CPC National Congress. It was the first time in the world that a ruling party had highlighted green development in its charter.

In June, the State Council unveiled a guideline on nature reserves, with national parks as a major component, aimed at providing systemic protection for natural ecosystems, relics, scenery and biodiversity, and also safeguarding the country's ecological security.

Xi has personally reviewed plans for four of the 10 pilot national parks, including those for Qilian Mountain National Park, according to Yang Weimin, deputy head of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Finance and Economic Affairs, and demanded that the integrity and original condition of the ecosystems be preserved.

"The aim is to give about 215,000 sq km of land back to nature, to give roughly 2 percent of China's territory to giant pandas, Siberian tigers and Tibetan antelopes, and to give our future generations a larger area of pristine land," Yang said at a news conference on the sidelines of the 19th CPC National Congress.

According to the plan, China will set up a group of national parks and establish a new agency for managing natural assets by the end of this year, with the new system to become more efficient in the next decade.