Chizhou municipal Party Secretary Tong Huaiwei meeting a visiting foreign friend.	Party Secretary Tong Huaiwei on an investigative visit to a local enterprise.	The Anqing Yangtze River Bridge in Chizhou.

THE ancient city of Chizhou is less known among Anhui Province’s famous scenic and historic cities, such as Huangshan which is site of the Yellow Mountain, but its natural beauty and cultural heritage are equally impressive . The Yellow Mountain to its south and the Yangtze River to its north, Chizhou is a national ecological economy demonstration area, and the first non-metal industry base in China.

Chizhou has a beautiful landscape and a long history. Certain national scenic spots, including Jiuhua Mountain -- one of China’s main Buddhist ritual sites -- Shengjin Lake National Wetland Nature Reserve, Guniujiang Geopark, Gui Pool, and the Shitai Karst Caves, are within its territory. These fantastic natural landscapes have drawn poets ancient and contemporary, all of whom have waxed lyrical on its beauty. One of China’s oldest styles of local opera, known as Guichi Nuo, originated in Chizhou and is still performed here.

Its small business volume and lack of large enterprises, however, has caused Chizhou to lag economically behind Anhui’s larger cities. In recent years, however, its booming tourism has helped put this small historical city on the tour map. As site of 90 listed national, provincial and county level scenic spots, it is a popular sightseeing, exploration and holiday destination. In 2006, it won the titles “Excellent Chinese Tourism City” and “Anhui Provincial Gardening City.” It was also selected as one of the “Top 100 Most Competitive Chinese Tourism City.”

Tong Huaiwei, secretary of the CPC Chizhou Municipal Committee, sees great potential for the city’s ecological and tourism development. “Chizhou is vast in territory and sparsely populated. It has a forest coverage rate of 60 percent, and is rich in fresh water resources. It also has large areas of protected lands, including four national and provincial level nature reserves, two national and provincial forest parks and four national and provincial level scenic spots. It is rich in plant and animal resources, having more than 430 animal and thousands of plant species. It has a rational distribution of industry. Most industrial plants are scattered in towns along the river.”

Tong Huaiwei was well versed in government administration before taking up his current post in July 2005. He had previously been mayor of Huangshan City, deputy director of the Huangshan Scenic Area Administrative Committee, deputy mayor of Ma’anshan City, acting mayor of Chuzhou City, deputy secretary-general of the Anhui Provincial People's Government and president of the Anhui Provincial Environment Protection Bureau. Tong has long pondered on how best to integrate environmental protection and local economic development.

Chizhou was approved as the first Ecological Economy Demonstration Area by the State Environmental Protection Administration in 1996. The Chizhou municipal government immediately embarked upon its development strategy of “relying on ecology to develop, on industry to strengthen, on tourism to activate, and on economy and trade to make the city prosper.” Maintaining good ecological environment is the main premise of this strategy. Huangshan and Chizhou are two cities in Anhui Province that advocate maintaining a good ecological environment in order to increase their competitiveness. Both have succeeded.

“Our living environment and future development should not be sacrificed to the GDP growth,” Party Secretary Tong emphasizes. “The development of a region should take into serious consideration its ecological environment. This does not simply mean protecting the ecological environment; it is imperative to nurture in people a harmonious ecological concept as regards developing our economy and improving living standards. The environment is of greater importance than money; we should never sacrifice our ecology in order to gain economic benefits.”

In September 2006, the Chizhou municipal government set itself a target: to make the city more powerful, vigorous and environmentally/economically harmonious within the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).

“Chizhou has rich tourism resources, including primeval forests, a deep-rooted Buddhist culture, many historical relics and the long deep-water Yangtze River coast,” says Party Secretary Tong. “Our responsibility is to preserve Chizhou’s ecological and natural environment as well as to develop its economy. We pledge to keep our city green and ecologically balanced throughout its development process.”