​Science and Technology Daily | Tianfu New Area, Sichuan: Building Urban in Parks and Cultivating Industry in beautiful scenery

The industrial park by Xinglong Lake in Tianfu New Area. Photo by Tang Wenhao, Xinhua News Agency reporter

Under the warm winter sun, the reporter walked by Xinglong Lake in the directly managed area of Tianfu New Area in Sichuan Province (hereinafter referred to as Tianfu New Area). The CITIC Bookstore Chengdu Xinglonghu Branch is known as the "Underwater Bookstore". Here, a huge glass curtain wall extends underwater, allowing readers to see the lush blue-green aquatic plants and fish of all sizes, experiencing the pleasure of reading in the water.

The Xinglong Lake has a water area of 4500 acres and is formed by the local use of natural low-lying terrain to divert water. It is an important node for ecological conservation in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The initial water quality of Xinglong Lake was Class V. In order to do a good job in the ecological restoration of Xinglong Lake, Tianfu New Area has successively launched pollution control actions such as ecological restoration of the upstream Luxi River section, and synchronously and orderly promoted projects such as the interception pipeline network along the Luxi River and the first recycled water plant in Tianfu New Area. By 2021, the systematic ecological function of Xinglong Lake has been improved.

"We conduct monthly water quality testing. Currently, the water quality of Xinglong Lake is stable at Class III, and some indicators have reached Class II or above," said a staff member from the Ecological Environment and Urban Management Bureau of Tianfu New Area.

In 2014, Tianfu New Area was approved as the 11th national level new area in China. In recent years, the new district has always implemented the concept of ecological priority and green development throughout the entire process of park city construction. In 2023, Tianfu New Area was successfully selected as the seventh batch of "Clear waters and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver" practical innovation bases in China.

The rebirth of Xinglong Lake is a reflection of the comprehensive implementation of the overall requirements for the construction of "one point, one park, one pole, one place" park cities in Tianfu New Area, and the practice of the development concept of "clear waters and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver".

Enablingcities to grow organically in natural ecology

"The Tianfu New Area anchors 70.1% of the blue-green space and adheres to the development concept of 'allowing cities to grow organically in natural ecology'," said the relevant staff of the Tianfu New Area Ecological Environment and Urban Management Bureau. The new area has built 50000 acres of contiguous green spaces, wetlands, rivers, lakes, water bodies, and urban forests, with 397 kilometers of Tianfu Greenway and a per capita park area of 17.03 square meters.

Xinglong Lake is located in the core area of Tianfu New Area and has become a comprehensive ecological lake area that integrates sightseeing, leisure, flood control, irrigation, and ecology. It is known as the "ecological green heart" of Tianfu New Area.

In the early stages of Xinglong Lake construction, Tianfu New Area proposed to preserve the original terrain and landforms to the maximum extent while avoiding large-scale excavation and filling, and to use natural low-lying land to form a lake. At present, more than 160 species of wild animals can be observed in Xinglong Lake, and more than 10 new bird species have been added in the past five years, including the blue headed diving duck, osprey, and little swan.

In 2015, Tianfu New Area launched legislation on ecological protection of 14.04 square kilometers in the Xinglong Lake area. On February 1, 2017, the Chengdu Xinglong Lake Regional Ecological Protection Regulations were officially implemented, providing a legal basis for ecological construction and planning control in the lake area.

In addition, Tianfu New Area has also built a Luhu Ecological City with a total planned area of over 8300 acres. "As a large-scale artificial lake that utilizes aquatic ecosystems for self purification, the visibility of the water quality in Luhu Lake has been maintained at 2 to 3 meters for a long time," said the relevant person in charge of Chengdu Qingyuan Water Environment Treatment Co., Ltd.

Officials from the Ecological Environment and Urban Management Bureau of Tianfu New Area stated that in order to build an urban forest park system with "green mountains reflecting colors, green wedges entering the city, and dense corridors and gardens", Tianfu New Area is accelerating the construction of the northern cluster ecological belt. At present, the forest area of Tianfu New Area is 143.8 square kilometers. Among them, Longquan Mountain has a forest coverage rate of 50% and 41 rare terrestrial flora and fauna.

Developing local economy based on a favorable environment

Strolling along the banks of Xinglong Lake, a huge blue square building shines brightly in the sunlight, and the glass curtain wall reflects the blue sky and white clouds. This is the National Supercomputing Chengdu Center, which fills the layout gap of the National Supercomputing Center system in the western region of China.

According to the deployment of "shaping a unique social environment with superior geographical environment", Tianfu New Area relies on a good ecological environment to attract high-level talents and comprehensively enhance its innovation and creativity capabilities.

In recent years, Tianfu New Area has been creating high-quality scientific and technological innovation spaces around Xinglong Lake. As of now, the new area has built or introduced 11 major scientific and technological infrastructure and cross research platforms such as the National Supercomputing Chengdu Center, 26 national research institutes, and gathered 840 high-level talents from national, provincial, and municipal talent plans, as well as more than 5000 high-end scientific research talents.

In terms of industrial layout, Tianfu New Area is based on a good ecological heritage to construct a low-carbon new economic industrial highland. On the one hand, the new area leverages the "Park City Demonstration Leading Project" of Xinglong Lake and Luxi Zhigu, as well as the adsorption effect of Tianfu Laboratory on low-carbon industries, to integrate and layout major scientific and technological innovation projects. On the other hand, the new area continues to build a new economic settlement belt with digital economy, intelligent economy, and green economy as the main forms.

At the same time, Tianfu New Area has also established a new type of comprehensive vacation commercial center that integrates campsite education, leisure vacation, horticultural sightseeing, parent-child play and other industries. Relying on consumption scenarios such as the Art Exhibition Center and Tianfu Food Island, the new area has established characteristic cultural and tourism IPs such as the Luhu Island Collection and Luhu Dragon Boat Festival, as well as cultural festivals such as the Flower Island Life Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Fishing Festival, and Luke Co Creation Night. It is understood that Tianfu New Area carries out more than 1000 activities every year and receives over 3.5 million domestic and foreign tourists annually.

At the same time as industrial development, Tianfu New Area continues to strengthen the top-level design of environmental governance. It is understood that Tianfu New Area has formulated special plans for ventilation corridor control and water nourishment in Tianfu, and established long-term control mechanisms for air pollution, such as "people monitoring the source", "one river, one policy", and refined management of river discharge outlets. In addition, Tianfu New Area is actively exploring new models of environmental governance and supervision, carrying out pilot projects to connect "three lines and one single" zoning control with other environmental management systems, promoting the "streamlining administration and delegating powers" reform in areas such as environmental impact assessment approval and administrative law enforcement, and promoting a positive interaction between government governance, enterprise autonomy, and social coordination.

Ecological value transformation usheringin new opportunities

In the cold winter season, the reporter found that Guantang Village in Tianfu New Area is still lush with greenery. Along the slate road, wooden houses stand on both sides of the road, showcasing the unique characteristics of Western Sichuan dwellings.

Guantang Village adopts a "small-scale, clustered, micro pastoral, and ecological" construction model. It is the closest cultural and artistic village to the urban area of Chengdu, and also the first beautiful new village experimental site in Tianfu New Area. The person in charge of Guantang Village said that Tianfu New Area has transformed Guantang Village through "micro intervention" and built a 10000 square meter architectural complex and 470 acres of land landscape for the village. At present, Guantang Village receives approximately 300000 tourists annually.

"In recent years, we have introduced 11 'agriculture+industry' projects with a total investment of about 2.5 billion yuan." Li Jian, Secretary of the Party Committee of Guantang Village, said that cultural carriers such as the Xingyao Museum and the Sichuan Brocade Museum have settled in Guantang Village, allowing tourists to fully experience the intangible cultural heritage skills of Song Dynasty shadow dance and the charm of Sichuan Opera's face changing.

Chuanxi Linpan is a traditional rural ecological settlement unique to the Chengdu Plain, consisting of four elements: countryside, trees, houses, and water systems, integrating production, life, and landscape. As a carrier of Shu culture, the western Sichuan forest area has important ecological and cultural significance.

The scattered forests in western Sichuan are playing a role in revitalizing idle rural resources and promoting efficient transformation of ecological value. In recent years, Tianfu New Area has taken the construction of western Sichuan forest areas as the main measure to carry out rural characteristics, inherit rural culture, and revitalize industrial resources. It has developed 357 western Sichuan forest areas and launched 34 protection and restoration projects.

Yuanjiawan Forest Park is located in Taoyuan Village, Taiping Street, Tianfu New District, at the southern foot of Longquan Mountain. It was once dilapidated due to poor management and years of disrepair. In recent years, the local area has carried out ecological protection and restoration of the original courtyards, alleys, and forest areas, introduced cultural and tourism industry projects, and enabled villagers to earn income through land transfer and housing leasing.

After efforts, the good ecological background of Yuanjiawan Forest has been fully utilized, ushering in a new opportunity for value transformation. On February 15, 2023, Yuanjiawan Forest in Tianfu New Area and Yujialin in Lulin Village reached the first forest carbon sink transaction with Sichuan Tianfu International Convention and Exhibition Group Co., Ltd. on the Sichuan Environmental Exchange, which became an important manifestation of the comprehensive use of forest protection and restoration in western Sichuan to achieve ecological value transformation.