Editor's note
Hong Kong is surrounded by the sea on three sides and has scarce fresh water resources. From 1962 to 1963, Hong Kong was hit by a severe drought that did not fall for nine consecutive months. In times of hardship, water is supplied every four days for only four hours. Finding water and carrying water has thus become the memory of many Hong Kong citizens. In order to solve the problem of water shortage in Hong Kong, on February 20, 1964, the Dongshen Water Supply Project was started. The project raised the water level by damming the river and building a pumping station, so that the water of the Shima River, a tributary of the Dongjiang River, could flow back to the Shenzhen Reservoir. On March 1, 1965, the Dongshen Water Supply Project officially supplied water to Hong Kong.
The Dongjiang River flows through Heyuan Longchuan, Heping, Dongyuan, Yuancheng and other counties, feeding generations of Heyuan's sons and daughters. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Dongshen Water Supply, Nanfang Daily and Nanfang + Heyuan News Department followed the river and went to Xunwu County, Anyuan County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, as well as Fengshuba Reservoir and Xinfengjiang Reservoir, the water source of Dongshen Water Supply Project, to explore the changes of the night. Through the "source of the river", we know where the blue water comes from and where the Ming Changhe River goes. In this issue, we go into Anyuan, Jiangxi, trace the river, explore the measures to protect the source, and investigate the path of development. Stay tuned!
300 Mountains "The First Waterfall of the Dongjiang River".
From the foot of the 300 Mountain, take the sightseeing car, along the winding mountain road, about 20 minutes to reach the 900 meters above sea level of the 300 Shandong Jiangyuan Fuaotang scenic spot, the source stone in the center of the square "must protect the source of the Dongjiang River" 11 big characters come into view. The tranquil source water of the Dongjiang River in Fuaotang flows through the "first waterfall of the Dongjiang River" not far away, and flows southward, continuously flowing into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
In 1743, He Lan of Anyuanzhi County discovered that mining and ironmaking in the Sanbai Mountain area caused soil erosion, and even landslides, destroying farmland and washing down houses, causing more harm and less benefit, and immediately issued and implemented a ban on many trees and mining. Thanks to the two-way efforts of the government and the people, the devastated 300 mountains have turned into green waters and green mountains.
Today, more than 200 years later, Anyuan County implements the development strategy of "integrating into the development of the Bay Area and carving the jade of the Dongjiang River", with the goal of becoming the "back garden", "orchard", "vegetable basket" and "rice bag" of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
"Anyuan and the Greater Bay Area are close to each other, connected by mountains and rivers, and the rolling Dongjiang River will closely connect the two places." Yang Yougu, Secretary of the Anyuan County Party Committee, said that at present, Anyuan is actively integrating into the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with a green, transparent, shiny and exquisite new attitude, making every effort to build the best choice for investment and business, sightseeing and tourism, and leisure and vacation, and constantly polishing the regional business card of "Jade Anyuan, the source of the Dongjiang River".
Located in the southern part of Jiangxi Province, Anyuan County has a long history of development and is one of the birthplaces of the Dongjiang River, the source of drinking water for Hong Kong compatriots. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Water comes from three hundred mountains
What is the relationship between Anyuan and Dongjiang?
Anyuan County is located at the intersection of Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces, with a forest coverage rate of 84.3%, and has two famous mountains, namely 300 Mountains and Jiulong Mountain, the birthplace of tea opera in southern Gansu. Among them, the 300 Mountains are the watershed of the Gongjiang River of the Yangtze River system and the Dongjiang River of the Pearl River system.
The Dongjiang River is one of the four major river systems in the Pearl River Basin. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was called Nirvana, Sui was called Xunshui, Tang was called Xunjiang, Heyuan Water, Song was called Longchuan Water and Longjiang, and after the Song Dynasty, it was called Dongjiang.
"Ancient and Modern Books Collection· Dictionary of Staff" records: "Longjiang, now known as the Dongjiang River, its source is one hundred and sixty miles east of Anyuan, and one is three hundred pits forty miles south of Anyuan. It shows that the Dongjiang River has two sources, one is Xunwu water, the other is Anyuan water (also known as Dingnan water, also known as Jiuqu River, Beiling water), and the two rivers are called Dongjiang after the confluence of Hehe Dam in Longchuan County, Heyuan City, Guangdong.
According to the "Twenty-four History· History of the Ming Dynasty, there are 300 pits flowing underwater in Longchuan County, Guangdong Province in the south of Anyuan Prefecture. Three hundred pits of water is the ancient name of the Zhenjiang River in Anyuan County.
After the Zhenjiang River flows out from the 300 Mountains, it flows successively to Fengshan Township, Zhengang Township, Kongtian Town, and Hezi Town in Anyuan County, and flows into the Jiuqu River in Dingnan County, Jiangxi Province at the county boundary of Liwu in Hezi Town, and flows southeast to the southeast, enters the Beiling Water of Longchuan County, Guangdong Province, and flows into the upper reaches of the Dongjiang River to seek Wushui, and the two rivers flow into the Dongjiang River after the confluence of the Fengshuba Reservoir in Longchuan, and flow through the source of the river, Huizhou, Dongguan, and flow into the Shiziyang and Lingdingyang, which belong to the first-class tributaries of the Dongjiang River.
"There is a local ballad that 'there are 99 rivers in Jiangxi, and there is only one Tongboluo'." Huang Yongjian, director of the Anyuan County Historical Research Office, said that this river is the Zhenjiang River.
Zhenjiang River under the 300 mountains.
As the headwaters of the Dongjiang River, Anyuan is associated with Hong Kong because of water.
"In the 60s of the last century, Hong Kong suffered a major drought, in order to solve the problem of drinking water for Hong Kong compatriots, under the personal care of Premier Zhou Enlai, the 'Dongshen Water Supply Project' diverted the Dongjiang River to help Hong Kong, ensuring 75% of Hong Kong's water demand, thus ending the history of Hong Kong's long-term water shortage." Gong Li, a tour guide at the 300 Mountains Scenic Area, is a native of the 300 Mountains, and she said that the 300 Mountains, as the source of drinking water for Hong Kong compatriots, are called "the 300 Mountains at the source of the Dongjiang River".
In order to ensure the safety of the water source of Hong Kong compatriots, the people of Anyuan have kept in mind the entrustment of "we must protect the source water of the Dongjiang River", and have carefully cared for the source of the 300 Shandong River for decades, and for a long time, the forest coverage rate of the 300 Mountains has reached 98%, and the animal and plant resources are very rich.
In May 1993, with the approval of the Ministry of Forestry of the People's Republic of China, Sanbaishan was built as a national forest park. In July 2022, Sanbai Mountain was rated as a national 5A-level tourist attraction, and it is the only natural eco-tourism resort in the country that has special significance for Hong Kong compatriots.
In the scenic area, the Siyuan Pavilion, the Dripping Guanyin, and the Siyuan Baoding jointly built by the Hong Kong and Shenzhen associations witnessed the deep affection of the Three Hundred Mountains and Hong Kong with water and milk.
The Siyuan Pavilion next to the Fuao Pond of the 300 Shandong Jiangyuan.
"Three prohibitions, three stops, three turns"
For more than 50 years, in order to protect the clear water at the source of the Dongjiang River, Anyuan has taken the initiative to give up the mining of mineral resources worth 100 billion yuan, and continued to fight the three major battles of "blue sky, clear water and pure land", effectively improving the quality of the ecological environment in the headwaters of the Dongjiang River.
According to the relevant departments of Anyuan, in 2015, Anyuan formulated and implemented the most stringent ecological and environmental protection policies such as "three prohibitions, three stops and three transfers", that is, the ban on logging, fishing and mining; Suspend the approval of polluting projects, shut down polluting enterprises, and stop polluting behaviors; Diseased orchards are transformed into production, resource-consuming enterprises are transformed, and extensive production methods are transformed. A total of more than 13 billion yuan has been invested to increase ecological protection and environmental governance.
According to incomplete statistics, in the past 10 years, Anyuan has banned more than 1.5 million mu of natural forests; 286,000 acres of shelterbelts have been built, and 104 mines with more than 3,000 acres of ecological restoration have been completed. 47 licensed mines were shut down, more than 160 enterprises were shut down, and more than 340 polluting projects were refused, so that the water quality of the source water of the Dongjiang River out of the county has always been maintained above the national standard Class II, and the water quality compliance rate is 100%.
In 2016, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces signed the first round of the Agreement on Horizontal Ecological Compensation for the Upstream and Downstream of the Dongjiang Basin (hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement"), with the first round of ecological compensation tentatively set at three years.
Anyuan 300 Mountain is located at the junction of Jiangxi, Guangdong and Fujian provinces, where the forest coverage rate is 98%, and the highest value of negative oxygen ions in the air is 100,000/cm³. It is known as a "summer resort" and a "natural oxygen bar".
The two sides agreed that if the outbound water quality of the Dongjiang River Basin in Jiangxi Province remains up to standard, Guangdong Province will compensate Jiangxi Province with 100 million yuan per year, the central government will award and subsidize 300 million yuan per year, and Jiangxi Province will have matching funds of 100 million yuan per year, for a total of 1.5 billion yuan in three years.
At the end of the first round of the three-year agreement, remarkable results have been achieved in the ecological and environmental protection of the source area of the Dongjiang River in Anyuan, and the excellent water quality rate of the cross-provincial section has reached the standard of 100% and steadily improved, creating a clear spring for Guangdong and Hong Kong. Today, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces have signed three rounds of agreements.
In addition, Anyuan also established the Dongjiangyuan Ecological Protection Foundation, raised donations of more than 700 yuan from all walks of life, and implemented 12 ecological protection projects; Explore the implementation of the "river (lake) chief + chief procurator + sheriff" protection and governance mechanism, and establish a "forest chief + chief procurator + court president" coordination mechanism to curb all kinds of ecological damage behaviors; Strengthening the protection of water resources, speeding up the construction of rural domestic sewage treatment facilities, and strengthening the monitoring of water quality at drinking water sources and exit sections have effectively guaranteed the water security of Guangdong and Hong Kong, and made important contributions to supporting the development of the Greater Bay Area.
300 Shandong Jiangyuan Fuao Pond next to the source stone.
Chuangcheng National 5A-level Scenic Spot
In the early stage of ecological priority, how can Anyuan transform ecological advantages into development advantages?
With a total area of 197 square kilometers, Sanbai Mountain has five major tourist areas, including Fuaotang, Jiuquxi, Dongfeng Lake, Yangtian Lake, and Jianfengbi, as well as unique geographical features such as the source of the Dongjiang RiverSanbai Mountain contains more than 100,000 negative oxygen ions per cubic centimeter, known as the "natural oxygen bar", these natural landscapes not only attract a large number of tourists, but also provide a solid foundation for the development of the tourism industry
Secondly, as the source of the Dongjiang River and the birthplace of drinking water for residents in Guangdong and Hong Kong, Sanbaishan is of great significance in terms of ecological protection and cultural inheritance.
Three hundred mountain scenic spots.
Anyuan County is deeply aware of the importance of the protection of the source of the Dongjiang River, and through comprehensive planning and deployment, it has vigorously developed the beautiful economy, clarified the development positioning, promoted exchanges and cooperation with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and promoted the creation of a national 5A-level tourist attraction in Sanbaishan with the strength of the whole county, so that Sanbaishan has become the "back garden" of cultural tourism, health and leisure in the Greater Bay Area
Since the start of the work of creating a national 5A-level tourist attraction in 2015, Anyuan County has made every effort to promote the successful creation of a national 5A-level tourist attraction around the core competitiveness of "300 Mountains is the only natural eco-tourism resort in the country that has the significance of drinking water and thinking about the source of drinking water for Hong Kong compatriots".
The county has invested a total of about 2 billion yuan to implement more than 100 5A and supporting projects, and build a "two-and-a-half-day tourism circle" with 300 mountains and Dongshengwei as the core; It has built cultural tourism and health care industry clusters such as Starry Sky · RV Camping Base, Dongjiangyuan Hot Spring Resort, and Langchi Outdoor Off-road Park; Focusing on the construction of cultural tourism, health and leisure brands, Anyuan takes the construction of the 300 Mountain Scenic Area as the leader, promotes the construction of traditional Chinese medicine bases, medical and health care complexes, hot spring swimming pools, customs streets and other projects, carefully builds a hot spring health care town, and promotes the high-quality development of tourism.
Dongshengwei, which is more than 180 years old, was built in the 22nd year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (1842) and is "the largest square Hakka walled house in China".
In order to highlight the deep affection between Anyuan and Hong Kong of "a strip of water and water, water and milk" and the source culture of "drinking a river water together, a family in Jiangxi and Hong Kong", Sanbaishan has built a source cultural center and a science popularization corridor; Improve the way of theatrical performances, and in the toilet, garbage can, tour guide explanation, signage and other aspects, everywhere highlight the source of drinking water in the Three Hundred Mountains and the characteristics of hospitable Hakka culture.
In 2021, Anyuan was awarded the most beautiful ecological and cultural tourism county in China. On July 15, 2022, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued an announcement to identify 12 tourist attractions as national 5A-level tourist attractions, and the 300 Mountain Scenic Area was on the list and was successfully created as a national 5A-level scenic spot.
At present, the Anyuan eco-tourism circle, led by the 300 Mountain Scenic Area, has become an important circle in Jiangxi's "three lines and eight circles", and the third service industry, dominated by tourism, accounts for 41% of the annual GDP.
As the source of the Dongjiang River and the birthplace of drinking water for residents in Guangdong and Hong Kong, Sanbaishan is of great significance in terms of ecological protection and cultural inheritance.
According to the data, since Sanbaishan was promoted to a national 5A-level tourist attraction, the number of tourists in Anyuan County has exceeded 12 million, and the comprehensive tourism income has exceeded 12 billion yuan. Among them, in 2023, the number of tourists in the Greater Bay Area will reach 1.175 million. During the Spring Festival holiday in 2024, the tourist flow of the 300 Mountain Scenic Area will reach 222,800, of which 30% will be tourists from the Greater Bay Area; The comprehensive tourism income exceeded 9 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.7%.
The "green waters and green mountains" at the source of the Dongjiang River are quietly transmuting into "gold and silver mountains".
Native products have become 100 million yuan industry
Walking into Donghe Village and Jingkun Village, Fengshan Township, Anyuan County, rows of neat and uniform purple yam vines come into view, and the shelves are full of green purple yam vines, presenting a vibrant scene.
Fengshan Township, located at the foot of the 300 Mountains, has vigorously developed the pillar industry of purple yam in combination with the actual development of local characteristic industries, and has embarked on a development path of integrating agriculture and tourism to promote rural revitalization.
At the foot of the three hundred mountains, Fengshan Township is picturesque. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Fengshan Township propagandist Chen Chen introduced that purple yam has a planting history of more than 1,700 years in the Hakka area of southern Jiangxi, and has the advantage of low planting and management costs, with a yield of 4,000 catties per mu and an income of about 15,000 yuan per mu. Purple yam is rich in nutrition and delicious taste, and it is gradually favored by domestic and foreign markets. As a local advantageous and characteristic industry, the total planting area of purple yam in Fengshan Township has exceeded 3,000 mu, with more than 200 farmers and a total output value of more than 100 million yuan.
In order to encourage farmers to develop and expand the pillar industry of purple yam, Fengshan Township has made efforts from three aspects: talent training, variety improvement, and supply and marketing docking.
In terms of personnel training, Fengshan Township has established a purple yam training school according to local conditions, providing free technical training for growers, using science and technology to help the development of modern agricultural industry, and villagers can use their leisure time to enter the school to learn planting technology. Up to now, the Purple Yam Training School has held 17 sessions and trained more than 1,200 students.
In terms of variety improvement, Fengshan Township cooperates with the team of professors from the College of Agronomy of Jiangxi Agricultural University to improve planting technology and continuously improve varieties. In terms of supply and marketing channel docking, Fengshan Township has established the Anyuan County Purple Yam Industry Association to unify the purchase price and listing time, and take the lead in contacting the supply and marketing parties, so as to ensure the income of farmers, expand product sales channels, and promote the stable development of the purple yam planting industry.
Fengshan Township purple yam processed products. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Chen Shuiquan, a large purple yam grower in Fengshan Township, has opened up export channels, and the purple yam products produced by him are exported twice a year on average, with a total export volume of about 37,500 kilograms, mainly exported to international markets such as Spain and Australia.
Donghe Village is a large village for the cultivation of purple yams, with a total of 1,200 acres planted in the village. Liu Xiaowei, secretary of the party branch of the village, introduced that in 2022, Donghe Village will adopt the model of "party branch + collective economy + company + farmer" to establish a village supply and marketing cooperative, and the village supply and marketing cooperative will carry out unified identification, brand packaging and selenium-rich products certification for purple yam and other special agricultural products, and create a standardized product supply line.
"Farmers only need to plant, and the sales will be handed over to the supply and marketing cooperatives in the village, so they don't have to worry about sales." Liu Xiaowei said that the next step in Donghe Village is to create a 300-acre selenium-rich purple yam base to help improve the quality of purple yams.
Anyuan has a suitable climate and abundant products, and the selenium-rich soil here produces the best quality of Gannan navel oranges, which is the main production area with the largest planting area of Gannan navel oranges. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Purple yam is only one of the characteristic agricultural industries in Anyuan, which is the largest navel orange processing center and distribution center in the country, and the core main production area of navel oranges in southern Gansu, and 9 agricultural product bases have been identified as the "vegetable basket" production base in the Greater Bay Area. Focusing on the future, Anyuan has determined that in the next five years, it will aim to become the "back garden", "orchard", "vegetable basket" and "rice bag" of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and strive to build a bridgehead pilot area for docking and integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
※Further reading
Searching for the source: The rapid water of the Dongjiang River trickles from the Bun Bowl Mountain丨The source of the river
Lan Xianlin, Secretary of the Xunwu County Party Committee: Drink the same river water, and send it to the source of the river in the Greater Bay Area
【Planning】Chen Ge
【Co-ordinator】Wei Jinfeng
Nanfang Daily Nanfang + reporter Huang Minli
【Photography】Zhang Haosen (except for signature)
【Acknowledgement】Propaganda Department of Anyuan County Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, Anyuan County Financial Media Center, Anyuan County Tourism Development Group
【Author】 Huang Minli; ZHANG Haosen; Chen; Wei Jinfeng
[Source] Southern Press Media Group Southern + client