Reporter's note: Protecting ecological resources is to ensure economic development

The first time I went to Pingliang for research and interview, my initial impression was that the transportation was extremely inconvenient. There is no airport, no high-speed rail, and it takes four hours to drive here after landing at Lanzhou Airport. In fact, in the past, Pingliang has always been an important node city on the land Silk Road, known as "the first city of Chang'an in the west", and now it is also the intersection of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo provinces (autonomous regions). However, due to the special topography of Gansu Province, which is flat from north to south and narrow from east to west, the two high-speed railway lines of Baolan and Xiyin have not passed through Pingliang, which has also become difficult for the locals to settle down. In the case of such a high heat of Tianshui, Pingliang, a neighboring city, is difficult to attract large-scale traffic, and the inconvenience of traffic is an important reason.

Perhaps it is precisely because of the inconvenient transportation and poor communication that many people mistakenly think that Pingliang is a desolate and underdeveloped city. However, looking through the data, it is learned that Pingliang's economic aggregate has always been in the sixth and seventh position in the middle among the 14 prefecture-level cities (prefectures) in Gansu Province. This contrast is intriguing. In the following two-day interview, the image of the city shown by Pingliang was also very different from what he imagined.

Pingliang is located on the Loess Plateau, but it does not have the impression of the arid climate, wind and sand, and soil erosion in the northwest region. Pingliang is the first forest city in Gansu Province, with a forest coverage rate of 33.8%, a figure that may not be much for the humid south, but it is rare in the northwest. Driving in Pingliang urban area and several subordinate counties, although the surrounding mountains are also loess, but the slopes are gradually green, the mountain flowers are in full bloom one after another, surrounded by green mountains, full of green.

The reclamation of loess plateaus is not uncommon in the northwest region, but Pingliang took the lead in breaking through the transformation of thousands of ravines into 10,000 acres of terraced fields. Since 1964, Zhuanglang County has begun to build terraces, which has lasted for more than 40 years. Today, the terraced fields here have reached one million acres, accounting for 90% of the total cultivated area. In addition, the construction of silt dams has effectively controlled soil erosion, and the ecological environment and agricultural production conditions have been greatly improved. This is land art created by the locals over a period of 40 years.

In Chongxin County, the atmosphere of Xiaojiangnan is even stronger. At present, there are only two counties in Gansu Province, which are not only national demonstration counties for ecological civilization construction, but also a practice and innovation base of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", and Chongxin County is one of them. This shows that it is not only a good ecological environment, but also can rely on the beautiful ecology to develop the economy.

"Beautiful ecological environment is the biggest development advantage of Pingliang", this is the consensus of the whole city, and it is the password to promote the high-quality economic and social development of Pingliang. In January 2023, Pingliang put forward the goal of building a national ecological civilization construction demonstration zone in the whole region, and put the construction of ecological civilization and ecological environmental protection in a prominent position in the city's economic and social development.

Based on the advantages of rich coal resources, Pingliang has accelerated the construction of a "1+N" modern industrial system led by the industrial chain of clean and efficient utilization of coal, and followed by equipment manufacturing, green building materials, biomedicine, new energy and other characteristic industries; relying on lucid waters and lush mountains, ecological agriculture such as Pingliang Red Cow, Jingning apples, and facility vegetables have been well-known by more and more people, and the brand effect has been highlighted; and the tourism resources such as Kongtong Mountain, Huaxia Guhuaiwang, and Zhuanglang Terraced Fields have distinctive characteristics, and the radius of tourists attracted has gradually expanded. From industry to agriculture, the system of green, low-carbon and circular development is being built, and from production to service, the way of harmonious coexistence between man and nature has been ingrained.

With the proposal of the "double carbon" goal, Pingliang still has unlimited development potential.

In an interview with reporters, Wang Xu, secretary of the Pingliang Municipal Party Committee, talked about one thing. Many enterprises in the south took a fancy to the forest carbon sink here and wanted to buy it, but Pingliang still refused when the city's finances were not rich. Because in the eyes of the secretary, forest resources are the development advantages of Pingliang, to increase the amount of carbon aggregate, to leave the carbon emission indicators to the enterprises that come to Pingliang for development, so that the forest can become the money bag of future generations.

This is the long-term value of lucid waters and lush mountains.

Just like the 3,200-year-old locust tree in Guanhe Village, thousands of years have passed, and it is still flourishing and spiritual. It is a testament to the city's history, the precious practices of the local people to respect and protect nature, and will continue to witness the beauty of this vibrant and beautiful Pingliang in the future.