Dongying builds its reputation as an international wetland city with its urban ecological environment

On September 26, Dongying City, Shandong Province invited media representatives from the United States, Australia, India, South Africa, and Pakistan to join a media tour entitled “Building an Ecological Dongying where the Yellow River Enters the Sea” in an effort to show the world the unique wetland scenery of the Yellow River Delta.

Dongying has in recent years made great progress in its urban ecological environment and built itself into a wetland city, according to the Information Office of the People’s Government of Dongying. It has fast become an ecological city with a comfortable atmosphere and ecological livability. Its wetland, urban landscape, and urban parks all make it an internationally well-known wetland city.

Dongying has a wetland area of 4,567.73 square kilometers, accounting for 41.58% of the city’s land. The local government implemented a program to introduce birds into Dongying. Oriental storks now make their home in the urban area, and the Swan Lake flood storage and detention project has welcomed its first migrating swans. There are 371 species of birds in the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, including 90 national first- and second-level key protected birds, such as red-crowned cranes and Oriental storks. Millions of birds in the migration season stop over in the National Nature Reserve, making it a key site for stopovers, wintering, and breeding for the bird migration route of East Asia-Australia and the Western Pacific Rim.

While ensuring strict protection, Dongying has made full use of its three globally leading tourism resources, i.e. “the intersection of the Yellow River and East China Sea, new wetland, and wild birds”. It has planned and implemented a number of high-quality cultural tourism projects, and the Yellow River Estuary Eco-tourism Area has become a national 5A level tourist destination.

Source: Information Office of the People’s Government of Dongying