DONGGUAN, China, April 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- "The City of Courage", the first episode of Dongguan's city image video series This Is Dongguan, is set to be released globally on Earth Day, April 22. The remaining three episodes will subsequently be aired in on European televisions and websites, such as France 24 in France, LA7 in Italy and German business, news and travel media. Committed to sustainability, the southern Chinese city presents the world with a Chinese approach to develop the economy in harmony with ecology.

Unveiling the city's brand-new promotional video on Earth Day 2021, said the staff from Dongguan Municipal Government, shows how it values the protection of ecological environment as a responsible member of the international community. And the first episode explores the way Dongguan strikes a balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

With a large number of population, industrial enterprises, river branches, vehicles, and high level of urban land development, the city now stands to face harsh realities in improving sewage treatment. In recent years, Dongguan has taken a comprehensive and coordinated approach to eco-environment management. To this end, policies and measures have been adopted to lower the number of big polluters responsible for high energy consumption and the inefficient use of resources. Some major polluters were shut down. Meantime, the future-oriented city draws a blueprint for strategic emerging industries that aim to drive the economy more by innovation than by production factors. Its other priorities include the upgrade of manufacturing, technological innovation, and sustainable development.

The series is about a story of a family of four, also an epitome of how the vibrant city pursues an eco-friendly and quality lifestyle, said Chen Songzhu, one of the scriptwriters of This Is Dongguan. Improving the ecological environment, optimizing the economic structure and enhancing urban qualities are not ideas the film makes up, but are rooted in the city's actual practices.

The set was mostly based on the sites deemed ecological governance successes, such as Huayang Lake, Songshan Lake Eco-park, Tongsha Reservoir, and Binhai Bay New Area.

As the little girl at the end of the first episode pictures the future of Dongguan, the Binhaiwan Bay Area emerges not just as a cooperation platform with the Greater Bay Area characteristics defined by the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, but an example to maintain a balance between ecological governance and economic growth.

The estuary of Maozhou River where the New Area is located was strongly salinized tideland with severe coastal corrosion which rendered it completely barren, according to workers there. To accelerate the shaping of an enabling environment, further protect coastal zones, and put them into better use, the New Area has taken a host of measures, including soil remediation (silt replacement and soil salinity control), coast management (planting mangroves and other wetland plants), and park landscaping (paving viewing plank roads, maintaining lawns, and building dry streams). All these efforts have developed the once-tideland into a coastal eco-wetland, where winding footpaths, lush plants, and well-kept lawns complement each other.

"For a post-pandemic age, it is a matter of shared concern to the global community regarding how to develop cities and get its economy back on track. Whatever path a country chooses, the response to climate change and environmental protection will still be in the interests of all. The way Dongguan pursues its development is yet to be improved, but preliminary benefits have been delivered," noted Li Jinyi, associate professor at Jinan University.

Today, Dongguan leads the country in sustainability and environmental protection. "The transition of an industrial and export-oriented city like Dongguan into a resource-efficient city has a major influence not only on the city's circular economy, but also on the circular economy globally," a 2019 UNEP report remarked.

"Hopefully the video series will encourage the world to embrace green and low-carbon production and create a better life, while showing the city's willingness to join hands with other global counterparts to restore our Earth," said the staff from Dongguan Municipal Government.