Residents and tourists relax at Zhangjiagang Bay park in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo/China Daily]

Picturesque city of Jiangsu province gives back to waterway that has brought arts and trade over the centuries

Waterscapes can be found throughout Suzhou, a city in East China's Jiangsu province which has long been known as "tourism paradise" and an affluent place with a bustling economy.

The waters in Suzhou have close links with the 6,300-kilometer-long Yangtze River, China's longest watercourse.

The Yangtze passes by three of the four county-level cities Suzhou governs－Zhangjiagang, Changshu and Taicang－before entering the East China Sea at Shanghai. Tributaries of the Yangtze River connect with a majority of the lakes, small rivers and streams in Suzhou.

The Yangtze, dubbed the Chinese nation's mother river together with the Yellow River, has brought civilization and prosperity to people along its banks.

In Dongshan village of Zhangjiagang, ancient relics representing Songze Culture were unearthed in 2008-09, including five houses and 27 tombs. The archaeological discovery revealed parts of the lives of people who lived in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River about 5,800 years ago in the Neolithic Age.

It is the best site for preserved Songze Culture found so far. The culture is widely seen as representative of early urban civilization in ancient China.

Suzhou has taken measures over the years to protect the river from pollution and make full use of it to develop the economy.

Zhangjiagang, Changshu and Taicang, with a 158-km-long shoreline along the Yangtze, joined a national program to build cultural parks along the river as a core part of the Jiangsu section.

The program, launched in January, has been carried out by 13 provincial-level regions in the Yangtze River basin in hopes of preserving the waterway's cultural heritage and displaying Chinese civilization to the world.

Ecological restoration

Suzhou, which ranked sixth among Chinese mainland cities by GDP in 2021, boasts a strong manufacturing industry. But the city government has pledged not to sacrifice the environment for economic growth any longer.

To protect the Yangtze River, the city plans to use shorelines, islands and wetlands to build ecological corridors along the waterway. The goal is to create an environment where people and nature can exist and develop in harmony.

Starting in mid-2019, the local government invested more than 3.7 billion yuan ($542.1 million) to restore the ecosystem at Zhangjiagang Bay, which is the last bay before the Yangtze River enters the sea.

Highly polluting fish farms and port enterprises were removed from Zhangjiagang's 9-km-long shorelines. At the same time, a waterfront hydrophilic landscape belt, with an area of 1.4 million square meters, is taking shape. It is attracting the return of some endangered species, such as black finless porpoises, fish hawks and black-faced spoonbills.

In May, observers saw a Chinese merganser, a rare duck species, swimming in the riverside wetland of Zhangjiagang. It was the first time such a bird had been spotted there since 2015. Experts said it is an apparent sign that the ecosystem has greatly improved. Zhangjiagang's wetland was selected as good practice for sustainable development by the United Nations in 2021.

In Changshu, the local government poured 470 million yuan to turn a barren sandbar stretching into the Yangtze River into a peninsula in 2019. It takes up an area of about 16 sq km, covered by lush vegetation.

The peninsula, named Tiehuangsha, opened to the public free of charge in March 2021. It has become a home to 176 types of birds and more than 60 species of fish and shrimp.

Both sites have become new tourism destinations after their restoration, bringing a sound environment and business opportunities to the surrounding villages.

River-driven economy

There is a long history of Suzhou taking advantage of the Yangtze River to develop the shipping industry.

For example, Liujiagang in Taicang earned fame at home and abroad in times dating back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).

Given its outstanding natural environment－with water channels reaching a depth of 12.5 meters, which is rare in river shipping across the world－the ports of Taicang ushered in a success story that reaches modern times by developing more profitable containerized transport.

Located at the estuary of the Yangtze River, the ports of Suzhou, including those in Zhangjiagang, Changshu and Taicang, have more advantages than any other city along the river to carry out shipping.

According to the city government, about 300 berths have been built along the 53-km-long shoreline of the Yangtze River, with another 20 km untapped as a buffer, the official figures show.

In 2021, the cargo throughput of Suzhou's ports, backed by the booming economy, reached 566 million metric tons. The container throughput amounted to 8.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units, ranking sixth and eighth, respectively, among all ports on the Chinese mainland, according to government statistics.

In terms of river transport alone, Suzhou's ports ranked first in both cargo and container throughput, contributing to neighboring Shanghai being a world-leading shipping center, according to the local government.

Innovative tourism

Suzhou has combined its picturesque landscape with traditional culture and developed new styles of tourism.

Yongxing village in Zhangjiagang helps urban people reminisce about their childhood memories in the countryside.

It has built rural beauty spots, such as lotus ponds, pear gardens, fishponds and ecological farms, improved tourist accommodation and cultivated three catering brands to attract short-haul visitors for relaxed weekends.

In Changshu, tourism authorities have cooperated with the education department to launch itineraries for students. The itineraries include visiting local scenery, several intangible cultural heritage items, farming and handicraft experiences as well as outdoor exercises.

Han Weibing, the culture and tourism chief of Suzhou, said the city will make a digital version of its famous scenic sites to assist online tours for people who could not come in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suzhou hosted about 112 million visitors in 2021, up nearly 20 percent from 2020, official figures show. Tourism revenue surged 11 percent year-on-year to reach almost 239 billion yuan. Both indices ranked first in the province.