The Five Mountain area in Nantong [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Nantong, located at the estuary of the Yangtze River, has been working to conserve its riverside areas over the past few years, restoring 5.5 kilometers of riverbanks and planting 6 square kilometers of forest.

The Five Mountain area beside the river, covering more than 1,000 hectares, now boasts a forest coverage rate of over 80 percent, most of which is open free to the public, offering a great place to relax.

In response to the national call for stepping up conservation of the Yangtze River and preventing overdevelopment, Nantong has demolished 203 businesses with bad sanitation or heavy pollution since 2016.

The Langshan port has also been relocated, opening up a space for ecological development in the riverside area.

The fishing ban in the Nantong section of the country’s longest river took effect on Jan 1, 2020. And the city has moved fast to remove all fishing boats and helped about 400 fishermen find new jobs.

Now being a river patroller is the most popular job among former fishermen.

"We've made a living fishing on the river for generations. It's time to change," said a former fisherman, who is devoted to protecting the river for future generations.

According to the Nantong government work report for 2020, the riverside area will be built into an international attraction and will serve as the "city's living room".

With a 3.2-km shoreline, a home port for 100,000-tonnage cruise ships, and a landscape belt costing 900 million ($130.4 million) to build, the riverside area is expected to be a model development along the river.