On the afternoon of the 22nd, General Secretary Xi Jinping investigated in Rizhao, Shandong Province. He came to the Sunshine Coast Greenway to learn about strengthening the ecological protection and restoration of the coastline and improving the quality of people's life.

In early summer, the blue sea is full of waves. On the Sunshine Coast Greenway, the Taigong Island Wetland Park in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, built along the beach coastline, is verdant in trees, fragrant in vegetation, and swarms of seagulls flying among the blue sea and sky, attracting many tourists to stop and watch.

This is a mosaic photo. The above picture shows the Sunshine Coast Greenway in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, after the completion of ecological restoration in 2021. The greenway is 28km long (UAV photo); The picture below shows the appearance of Rizhao Sunshine Coast Greenway without ecological restoration in November 2019. Photographed by Guo Xulei, reporter of Xinhua News Agency

But a few years ago, it was a different scene here. The barren saline alkali land and the aquaculture ponds that lost their ecological functions were daunting.

Rizhao City, on the coast of the Yellow Sea, has beautiful scenery and mountains. While enjoying the economic benefits brought by port coal operations, this city, which is born and prospered by the port, inevitably leaves ecological wounds.

In recent years, Rizhao City has vigorously implemented the strategy of "building the city ecologically", constantly increasing ecological protection efforts to make the ecological background more beautiful.

This is a recent photo of Sunshine Coast Greenway (UAV photo) in Rizhao, Shandong. Photographed by Guo Xulei, reporter of Xinhua News Agency

——Create a beautiful bay. Rizhao has established 11 marine protected areas of various types, taking the lead in establishing the marine ecological red line of the whole sea area. The function of the nearly 2 km port coastline of the Hailong Bay Project has been adjusted to an ecological coastline, making it the first port industrial coastline project in China to return to the sea and repair and renovate the ecological coastline.

——Protect the beautiful coast. Rizhao took the initiative to implement the renovation and restoration project of the estuarine coastal zone into the sea, forming an ecological shoreline of about 31 kilometers, repairing about 1.28 million square meters of beaches, and repairing more than 1.1 million square meters of vegetation.

This is the recently photographed Sunshine Coast Greenway in Rizhao City, Shandong Province. Photographed by Li Tao, reporter of Xinhua News Agency

Based on coastal restoration, Rizhao will closely combine leisure tourism needs with marine ecological protection, constantly innovate and launch diversified cultural and tourism products, and build the Sunshine Coast into a well-known coastal leisure resort destination at home and abroad.

This year's "May Day" holiday, Wanpingkou Scenic Area, Xingdao Blue Carbon Scenic Area, Rizhao Seaside National Forest Park and other popular scenic spots on the coastline are more popular than ever before. Cultural and tourism products covering music, sports, immersive performing arts, markets, food, camping and other diversified formats are favored by tourists, driving the popularity of "tourism+performing arts" and "tourism+music" to rise and continue to emerge.

Every morning or evening, groups of hikers and cyclists can be seen everywhere on the Sunshine Coast Greenway. The 28km long Sunshine Coast Greenway, built according to the world-class rural shoreline standard, retains the original pine forest, beach, reef and wetland resources. It not only organically connects the Wanpingkou Scenic Spot, Rizhao Coastal National Forest Park, Liangchenghekou National Wetland Park and other high-quality beach shoreline scenic spots, but also provides cultural facilities such as urban study to create a leisure space for citizens to enjoy the sea.

At present, Rizhao has built more than 10 distinctive ecological sea friendly spaces, with a total length of 61.8 kilometers of mountain sea style greenway and sunshine coast greenway, which string the originally scattered sea friendly spaces into a chain and effectively enhance the attraction of the coastal leisure tourism belt. Rizhao received more than 50 million domestic tourists last year.

Reporter: Sun Xiaohui, Shao Luwen

Vision | Editor: Zhang Aifang, Bao Yuhan

Jointly produced by Xinhua News Agency and Shandong Branch

Editor in charge: Wang Shumiao SN242