China races to rescue rare 'smiling angel' of Asia's longest river

Concerted efforts

Nanjing, capital of eastern China's Jiangsu province, is the only Chinese city where visitors can observe the finless porpoise in an urban setting. More than 50 finless porpoises have been spotted in the Yangtze in Nanjing.

In 2014, the local government opened a protection zone that covers an area of nearly 87 square kilometers along the Yangtze for the endangered species.

Last year, Nanjing made several design adjustments in building new Yangtze river infrastructure to minimize the impact on the endangered animal.

Eagles and migratory birds can always be seen flitting around the 30-sq-km core part of the zone, where the construction of any factories is strictly prohibited, Nanjing's environmental protection bureau said.

Jiang set up the conservation association in 2015 in the hope of teaching local people to care for the finless porpoise and has organized over 100 public engagement activities in local schools and communities.

The quality of the porpoise's habitat is a bench mark for its protection, said Sun Lifeng, an official with the Nanjing Dolphin Nature Reserve.

"We have been devoted to the afforestation of the Yangtze River shoreline as wetlands are critical for the entire ecological environment," Sun said.

Since 2016, the environmental protection of the Yangtze, rather than large-scale development, has become the dominant focus of the country's river development plans.

The rallying call was heard as authorities across China carried out a series of measures, including preventing water pollution, restricting ship movements and patrolling the nature reserves every day.

Jiangsu, in the lower reaches of the Yangtze, closed more than 6,000 chemical factories near the river in the last three years. And Chongqing, lying upstream, aims to remove all factories with dilapidated equipment from the river this year.

"Official clampdowns on overfishing and polluting activities have gradually restored the water quality of the Yangtze," Jiang said.