The plan aims to give full play to the role of the culture of the Yangtze River in the high-quality development of the Yangtze Economic Belt
Like India’s Namami Gange, an integrated conservation programme for the Ganga River, China has announced a plan for preserving, passing on and promoting the culture of the Yangtze River. Yangze is the longest and the most revered river in China.
A plan has been jointly released by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA).
According to Xinhua news agency, the plan aims to give full play to the role of the culture of the Yangtze River in the high-quality development of the Yangtze Economic Belt, as well as in the people’s cultural life and the efforts to turn China into a country with a strong socialist culture.
The plan lays out main tasks in seven aspects, including protecting the cultural relics and heritage along the Yangtze River, improving the public cultural services and tourism products along the river, and carrying out more international exchanges to promote the culture of the Yangtze River overseas.
For the rejuvenation of the river, on January 1, 2021, China implemented a 10-year fishing moratorium in all-natural waterways along the Yangtze River. With this moratorium over 231,000 fishermen surrendered nearly 111,000 boats in a dozen provincial-level regions. The purpose of the embargo was not only to restore the fish population in the river but also to create a new life for the fishermen who head ashore.
Production fishing for natural fisheries resources has been outlawed in the Yangtze River’s main channel and its tributaries since January 2021. The Yangtze River Protection Law went into force in March 2021, further encouraging the legislative implementation of the 10-year fishing ban scheme.
In April 2021, a total of 10,000 captive-bred Chinese sturgeon were released into the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to help restore the fish’s wild population.
One of the rivers with the most aquatic biodiversity in the world is the Yangtze River, which is home to approximately 424 species of fish, 183 of which are endemic. Nonetheless, in light of over-fishing and water contamination, the climate of oceanic life forms in the Yangtze Stream has constantly decayed.
In comparison to 30 or 40 years ago, the Yangtze River’s domestic fish resources have decreased by less than one-tenth in recent years. Since 2004, rare species like the Yangtze River dolphin have not been seen. Both the Yangtze finless porpoise and the Chinese sturgeon were in danger of extinction.
The Yangtze River travels through 13 provinces and regions as it flows from the snow-capped mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the East China Sea. The third-longest river in the world, it served as a catalyst for the growth of agriculture and shipping in ancient China and is considered one of the cradles of Chinese civilisation. The areas and cities along the river support close to 40 per cent of China’s population and produce 45 per cent of the country’s GDP.
With these initiatives, China is trying to rejuvenate the national river Yangtze.
Shraddha Warde
