An aerial view of the rural area in Nantong. [Photo/IC]

Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province has been striving to achieve a harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature in recent years.

As the last ecological shelter zone of the Yangtze River that runs to the East China Sea, the city has prioritized the restoration of the natural environment along the river and the protection of the Yangtze River in its development plan.

The Binjiang area of the Wushan National Forest Park in Chongchuan district has shut down 203 polluting companies, repaired 12 kilometers of water front, and planted another 6 sq km of forest to create an ecosystem featuring forests, natural reserves, wetlands and waters.

Tongzhou district has over the past three years invested nearly 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) in 322 ecological protection projects. During the application for ecological protection demonstration this year, all the indexes of Tongzhou in ecological mechanism, space, economy, life, and culture met the national standards.

Nantong has also produced notable results in pollution treatment and ecological restoration.

Last year, Nantong had nearly 321 days with good air and 93.5 percent of its rivers met the standard of centralized drinking water and above, both 20 percent and 25.76 percent higher than the figures in 2015.

The ratio of clean energy to energy consumption reached 12.25 percent while that of coal to energy consumption decreased 52.4 percent in 2020.