Birds inhabit the wetland along the Taicang section of the Yangtze River in East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: tcfbgw]

Taicang, a county-level city in East China's Jiangsu province, has over the past decade been making efforts to protect the Taicang section of the Yangtze River. 

For example, the city has taken a series of measures, including implementing the river chief system and closing two sewage discharge outlets, to help reduce wastewater by about 8 million metric tons per year. 

Taicang has also rolled out policies to ensure the implementation of the fishing ban in the Yangtze River basin and stepped up efforts to restore the environment along its 38.8-kilometer coastline. 

The city has dismantled 52,000 square meter factory buildings, planted 1,794-mu (119.6 hectares) of trees, built the Qiputang Ecological Park, and put 72.4 percent of wetlands under protection. 

A forest ranger surnamed Lu said that he and his colleagues have in recent years planted large areas of dawn redwood trees and taxodium ascendens, greatly improving the air quality and environment along the coastline. 

Zheng Wei, a bird monitoring volunteer, noted that the wetland along the Yangtze River is currently home to 108 species of birds, 18 of which were recently discovered, indicating that the environment along the Yangtze River has improved a lot.

Birds fly through the Taicang section of the Yangtze River in East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: tcfbgw]