Shanghai Daily news

Chen Xichang, the Communist Party secretary of Gangxi Town in Chongming County, has worked hard over the past few years to protect the environment in his hometown.
The town, located between the county's downtown and Dongping National Forest Park, has been shaped into an attractive garden, clustered with thick bushes, camphor trees and magnolias.
"Environmental protection is crucial for us to improve our lives," said Chen.
Economic and industrial development on Chongming Island have lagged behind the rest of the city, because the island is cut off from downtown Shanghai by the East China Sea. High transport fees have prevented many companies from setting up offices and factories on the island.
Work began last year, however, on a bridge and tunnel link between the island and Pudong, which is expected to have a dramatic effect on Chongming's development.
"We should prevent our environment from being polluted since our clean natural resources are a key edge for the island's unprecedented development," said Chen.
Chongming County is trying to take advantage of its rich natural conservation, such as Dongtan Wetlands and its wide variety of plants, to attract scientific institutions and develop its tourism industry.
To keep its air clean, the county drew up a blueprint for protecting and improving the island's environment two years ago.
Chen and his colleagues have been considering ways to make their towns more beautiful ever since.
Eliminating the scattered rubbish on farmlands was the first task they dealt with. They employed 37 garbagemen from poor families in each village to collect households trash and transport it to the incinerators.
Garbage, which the villagers threw at will before the existence of collectors, is no longer seen in public spaces or on farmland. At the same time, the part-time job as trash collecting can provide a poor family with an extra income of 600 yuan (US$72) each year.
After the rubbish was cleared up from the town's roads, banks and farmlands, Chen started to push some of the villagers to sell part of their lands to plant trees.
The district pays villagers, who were willing to sell their lands for planting trees, 8,143 yuan per hectare annually on average. That amount is 1,857 yuan per hectare higher on average than the income they used to earn from farming each year.
When land is available, the district hires workers to plant trees on it.
"Each employee should consider carefully which and how many trees they want to plant. They have not only been hired to plant trees but also to keep them alive for at least two years," said Chen.
Currently, the town boasts 1,400 hectares of greenland, including parks and forests. It has shaped the 7.3-kilometer Gangdong Road, the town's main road, into a "green corridor."
Green coverage on both sides of the road reached 1,000 hectares, which is two times the size of Dongping National Forest Park, described as the island's "oxygen bar."
Chen and his staff have not only encouraged gardeners but also the villagers to plant trees in the town.
Every family in the town has been advised to plant about 10 trees, including two to three camphor trees, three to five fruit trees and two to three magnolias.
"We hope that every household in the town can live in a forest-like environment," said Chen.
During the past two years, the town started to honor the cleanest villages.
Last year, Shuangjin Village and Beishuang Village were awarded for their outstanding environmental protection work.