Recently, Changjiang Village is planning a Yangtze River Major Protection Forum event to be held in December. The city-level forum entering the village fully proves that Changjiang Village plays a crucial role in the solid promotion of the Yangtze River Major Protection process in Jiangyin.

Changjiang Village, which relies on the river for its livelihood, started its journey towards happiness by building small brick kilns on the Yangtze River's tidal flats. After generations of continuous struggle, today's Changjiang Village has not only undergone tremendous changes in its appearance but also boasts a village-level economic entity with annual sales exceeding 100 billion yuan and net assets over 30 billion yuan—'China's Top 500 Enterprises' Jiangsu New Changjiang Industrial Group Co., Ltd.

Helping to sing well

Fan Xinglong, deputy secretary of the Changjiang Village Party Committee, introduced to the release official that since its establishment in 1998, the ship dismantling company under New Changjiang Group has purchased over 1,200 old ships from home and abroad, dismantled 12.75 million light tons of scrap steel, equivalent to reducing 13.8 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. 'The products obtained from ship dismantling are mainly scrap steel, waste machinery and electrical equipment, and waste non-ferrous metals, among which scrap steel accounts for 95%. The scrap steel from dismantling replaces ore in steelmaking, reducing high-energy-consuming processes such as sintering, coking, and ironmaking, thereby lowering pollution emissions. For every ton of dismantled scrap steel used by the group's Changqiang Steel, it means a reduction of 1.6 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The produced slab products are transported to Changda Steel for ship steel plate rolling, and most of the high-quality ship steel plates produced are supplied to Changhong International Industrial Park for new ship construction.' The green circular economy of Changjiang Village minimizes the pressure of enterprise development on environmental capacity, helping Jiangyin to sing well the 'Song of Yangtze River Major Protection.'

Changjiang Village, which thrives by the river, has multiple riverside docks. At each dock, the 'real-time data of online environmental monitoring' is updated every 20 seconds to ensure that 'not a drop of oil or a drop of excessive wastewater enters the Yangtze River.' Jin Jingjun, assistant to the chairman of Jiangsu Changhong International Port Co., Ltd., stated that enterprises standing by the Yangtze River should bravely take on the responsibility of Yangtze River Major Protection.

‘During the special rectification action for water transfer in the Jiangsu section of the Yangtze River from 2017 to 2020, New Changjiang Group actively assisted in the floating crane rectification and sand and gravel supply in the Jiangyin section of the Yangtze River. Now, 85% of the cargo at Changhong International Dock is transferred via waterway.’ At the Changhong International dock, it can be seen that after the cargo is unloaded from the ship, it is transported to the transfer ship through a closed corridor, with no contact with the ground throughout the process. At the dock's storage yard, green dust-proof nets have built a series of green barriers. Once the dust exceeds the standard, five high-pressure spraying units will automatically activate to effectively reduce dust in a timely manner.

With one hand grasping transformation and upgrading and the other hand grasping enriching and benefiting the people, Changjiang Village has evolved from giving villagers shares, villas, and gold to the current 'new three gifts', namely 'health, security, and culture'. Waves of welfare benefits have greatly enhanced the villagers' sense of happiness and allowed everyone to enjoy the economic dividends brought by green development. Since 2017, Changjiang Village has organized free travel for villagers every year, from 'Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong's Return, Changjiang Village's Thousand-Person Tour to Hong Kong and Macau', to 'Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up, Changjiang Village's Thousand-Person Tour to Beijing', to 'Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the Country, Happy Changjiang Guilin Tour', and then to 'Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, Changjiang Villagers' Happy Tour'. This spring's 'Red Changsha' trip has enriched the spiritual life of the villagers.

In addition, the village also organizes free health check-ups for villagers and has established a 'Love Mutual Aid Fund' to provide additional assistance to families who have fallen into poverty due to illness, helping struggling villagers get through difficulties, forming a mutual aid atmosphere of 'a thousand people helping one person'. It is necessary for every family to have 'full granaries and sufficient food', to improve the material living standards, and for everyone to 'know etiquette and understand honor and disgrace', to enrich the spiritual and cultural life. Changjiang Village has repeatedly carried out cultural activities such as 'Sending Calligraphy and Painting into the Village', 'Book Enjoyment Reading Festival', large-scale artistic performances, and delivering newspapers to households, continuously enhancing the villagers' 'soft power'.

From 'relying on water for livelihood' to guarding 'green mountains and clear waters', from the originally dirty and chaotic small fishing village to the current 'northern riverside industrial concentration area, southern ecological wetland, and garden villa in the village' integrated area, the 'green mountains and clear waters' that Changjiang Village guards are turning into 'golden mountains and silver mountains' at their doorstep. Looking to the future, Changjiang Village will continue to combine its 'water-reliant' characteristics, plan for 'green' industries, explore and expand the village collective economy, and promote a development model that increases villagers' income and wealth, allowing the masses to share ecological dividends and achieve a 'triple win' of ecological benefits, economic benefits, and social benefits.