Lotus flowers blossom in the Fairy Lake (Xianzi Hu) in a suburb of Shenyang. The city is emerging from its murky past and was recently named a "UN Best City for Living". Liu Baocheng

In the bad old days of the 1980s, Liaoning province was so black with pollution that some of its cities couldn't even be picked up by satellite.

As one of the old industrial bases in Northeast China, Liaoning had long relied heavily on production-oriented industries, leading to excessive energy consumption and severe environmental pollution.

When people in Liaoning realized that the old industries were greatly hampering the area's development and quality of life, local government, businesses and residents joined forces to tackle the issue head-on.

Shenyang, a famous old industrial base, used to be among the world's 10 most polluted places.

In the last five years, the city has energetically developed new energy sources and accelerated the economic development, says Deputy Mayor Wang Ling.

The city has invested 66 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) on more than 1,000 projects to reverse the city's pollution.

In Shenyang alone, about 4,300 chimneys have been demolished and 600 heavily polluting businesses have been shut down or relocated, including smelter, refinery and steel plants.

Wang says environment-friendly initiatives have been introduced, including the Ground Heat Pump System, which is now used in 20 million sq m of commercial and residential properties in the city.

She reckons using the heat pump is equivalent to using 1.625 million tons of coal. It's also estimated that smoke dust and sulfur dioxide emissions will be slashed, by 21,000 tons and 26,000 tons respectively.

The amount of wastewater being treated has soared, from 17 percent in 2000 to the 75 percent now, and all municipal solid waste also undergoes harmless treatment.

It isn't only in the treatment of waste and industrial products that Liaoning is thriving - the city's green area has increased 82.4 sq km since 2001 and now stands at 40.6 percent.

"We've found we are creating a better environment for investment, since environmental problems could obstruct the growth of the economy," Wang says.

Now the results are starting to show: Last year, Shenyang had over 320 good air quality days, about 70 days more than Beijing.

As a result, it has received numerous awards, such as National Model City in Environmental Protection, National Forest City, and the United Nations Best City for Living.

Another city emerging from its murky past is Benxi.

Mayor Gang Rui believes protecting the environment isn't only about boosting the economy. "It is our undertaking to serve our ordinary residents. It is very relevant to people's livelihoods," he says.

"We cut the possibility of pollution from the source as projects or enterprises not meeting the environmental requirement, cannot be settled in Benxi.

"We would rather give up growth of GDP and fiscal income for a better environment, to leave a pleasant city for our offspring."

Benxi Steel, for example, whose heavy industry accounts for 97 percent of this city's industry, rejected 16 high-energy consuming and polluting projects last year.

It has also upgraded its plants to make sure 100 percent of its coke oven gas is used.

Benxi has finished 100 reconstruction and upgrade projects in its traditional industries in order to cut its consumption of resources and energy.

The percentage of recycled water used in industrial sectors has reached 92.1 percent, all the waste residues of steel and iron have been recycled, while the percentage of forest cover in Benxi reached 73.8 percent, the highest in Liaoning province.

Moves by officials and enterprises have helped the city to earn the title of Garden City, awarded by the provincial government last year.

Benxi resident Mao Tianwei is a contented observer of the changes all around him.

In the past 30 years, Mao has climbed the city's famous Pingding Mountain every morning.

Previously, it was difficult for him to have a bird's-eye view of the city from the mountain due to thick fog and soot, but now blue sky, clean river and green forest have come back to his eyes. "I really enjoy the scenery here, and that's all I long for in my old age," Mao says.

What has been demonstrated is just part of the Liaoning provincial government's efforts to develop an environmentally friendly economy, as the province has been named by the ecological industry as one of its pillar industries during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010).

During the period, Liaoning will earmark up to 120 billion yuan ($17.5 billion) for environmental protection, mainly involving the prevention of water and air pollution and recycling of solid industrial wastes.

An innovation center for environmentally friendly industries will also be built at the Liaoning Environment Science Park, which will introduce 10 ecological industrial projects annually during the 11th Five-Year Plan.

By 2010, Liaoning is expected to develop 50 kinds of ecological products, each of which will have annual revenue of up to 50 million yuan.

In addition, Liaoning's Vice-Governor Teng Weiping says that reclaiming the wetland and treating the Liao River are two priorities.

"Energy-saving and environmental protection have become compulsory requirements for local governments, enterprises and factories, also for projects which are expected to be launched in Liaoning province," he says.

(China Daily)