Lijiang River in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, now has better water quality than before thanks to the local authorities' persistent pollution control efforts, according to Qin Chuncheng, mayor of Guilin and a deputy to the National People's Congress, China News Service reported on March 3.

The Lijiang River basin used to be surrounded by small paper factories, stone pits and brickfields, causing great pollution to the water. Meanwhile, the Qingshitan Reservoir in the Lijiang River's upper reaches, a source of drinking water, was occupied by lots of net cages for fish breeding.

Guilin has invested nearly 7 billion yuan ($1 billion) in the overall management and ecological protection of the Lijiang River, shutting down 24 small paper factories, 162 stone pits and 126 brickfields along the river and more than 300 livestock farms within a perimeter of 500 meters of the Qingshitan Reservoir.

"In order to protect the Lijiang River, we released a new development strategy which promotes urban construction away from the river and to the west of Guilin, breaking with the old city layout," added Qin.

"Back in the old days, only people with enough money would travel to Guilin, and they would have to earn enough before going there. But now things have changed; even those who want to earn money come go Guilin," said Qin.

The city, being directly connected to Hong Kong via high-speed trains, has become the "back garden" of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area due to its excellent ecological environment.

Qin said that the city has also become a good destination for companies in the Greater Bay Area seeking development; more than 70 outstanding companies such as Huawei, Gree and BYD have been introduced to the city.