Guilin, a southern China scenic city known for its crystal-clear water and spectacular hills, has launched a fund-raising campaign to protect its major river: the Lijiang.

With a history of more than 2,000 years, Guilin is world famous for green mountains, clear water and strangely shaped stone formations. The city, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, hosts some 10 million tourists every year.

To raise fund, the campaign organizer will sell 500,000 Green Project Hope cards, at 10 yuan (US$ 1.2) each, and all the proceedings will be used for ecological protection projects along the Lijiang River, including planting of trees, and improvement of sewage processing in villages by building marsh gas pits and clean toilets.

According to sources, the city government has so far invested 45 million yuan (about US$ 5.42 million) in an afforestation campaign along the river, aiming at building scenic protection forest belts along both banks, planting trees on hillsides, and constructing water conservation projects on the upper reaches.

An additional 11,530 hectares of trees are expected to be planted in the coming years, while efforts are underway for reducing industrial pollution and stopping waste water from flowing into the river.

(People’s Daily 04/08/2001)