“I’m in love with this place and I would like to live here very much,” said Selim Belortaja, Albanian ambassador to China, as he walked across the green trail and the ecological forest during a recent visit to Yucun village in Anji county of Zhejiang province. The tour was part of “Stories of CPC: Zhejiang’s Achievements in Practicing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, a series of events aimed to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, which over 400 diplomats from 70 countries took part in either in person or via the internet.

As the place where the first congress of the CPC was held, Zhejiang has long been considered an important window to China’s development vision, its economic and social practices and achievements the epitome of China’s economic and social developments. The transformation of Yuncun village is one of the best illustrations.

Clear streams, luxuriant mountains, newly built houses along spotless streets. Yucun village is now one of the most picturesque villages in China. But it used to be plagued by pollution. In the past, it was not uncommon for villagers to have their windows shut and stay indoors, as smog filled the sky and dust covered grass and leaves. In less than a decade, everything has been turned upside down, all thanks to a new concept of green development.

Back in 2005, Xi Jinping, then Party secretary of CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, put forward the idea that “clear waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,” during a trip to Yucun village. Development should not come at the expense of the environment; in fact, a good environment can help with better development, the idea goes. Later it became a guide for Yucun village and hundreds of thousands of villages all over China to pursue high-quality growth through eco-friendly industries.

“At that time, we made a determined effort to shut down the mines and the cement plants in the village, all big polluters, and began to improve the environment and restore the ecology,” Wang Yucheng, Yucun village Party chief, remembered of the “old days”. Yucun’s green coverage rate today is over 90%, mines have been turned into parks and an area has been set aside for tourists to experience farming work. A polluted village is now a sweet home to live in.

Zhejiang is leading the way in environmental protection and ecological preservation. “To not only see the problems during high-speed development but change the path accordingly,” remarked Djauhari Oratmangun, Indonesian ambassador to China, “whether it is the whole country or a single village, it takes extraordinary wisdom and courage.”

In Lujia village, another eco-friendly village less than 30 kilometers away and the shooting location for the Oscar-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, rural tourism is thriving. Taking the 4.5-kilometer tourist railway that links 18 themed farms, making woodware and sipping a cup of coffee in one of the village’s coffee shops…João Martins de Carvalho, Head of the Mission in the Portuguese embassy in China, and Marc Hübsch, Luxembourg ambassador to China, said that Lujia village could rival any village in Europe.

More important is the Party members’ determination to lead the villagers on the way to better development, especially in a village that was beset by garbage and waste problems. “It’s not an easy task,” reflected Sterling Quant, Bahamas ambassador to China. “but Lujia village has done it, and that’s the most important reason why China can succeed in its poverty alleviation efforts.”

For Colombian ambassador to China Luis Diego Monsalve, whose visit to Zhejiang was his first, the province is living up to its reputation as “heaven on earth”, as he saw in person how the residents are working towards common prosperity. “We have a lot to learn from the experience of Zhejiang’s development.”

While the diplomats were impressed by China’s green development, they were equally, if not more, amazed by the innovations of Chinese companies.

“Cuba is the first Latin American country to import Geely autos, and so far has imported more than 150,000 units,” Cuban Ambassador to China Carlos Miguel Pereira recalled in the exhibition hall of Geely Group in Hangzhou. “This is a great chance for us to know more about China’s current development, its capabilities and future.”

Founded in 1986 as a maker of refrigerator parts, Geely gradually developed into a manufacturer of refrigerators, freezers and motorcycles before entering the auto industry in 1997. It is now a multinational corporation with a total asset of 390 billion yuan and more than 120,000 employees. “In a little over 30 years, Geely has developed into a world-class automaker,” said Friedrich Stift, Austrian ambassador to China. “It is simply a miracle.” The company is just a microcosm of the speed and quality in which China has been developing.    

In New H3C Technologies Co., Ltd., an Hangzhou-based company with a portfolio spanning across compute, storage, networking, 5G, security and related domains, and offering a comprehensive one-stop digital platform that includes cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), industrial internet, information security, intelligent connectivity, AI vision, and edge computing, as well as end-to-end technical services, visitors were dazzled by the new technologies that either have already been applied to industries and daily life or, in the words of Armenian ambassador to China, “show the direction of future innovations and development for the human society”.

China’s achievements in science and technology, especially in AI and space technology, are undoubtedly the envy of the world. “Every time I visit China, I would be surprised by its latest innovations and accomplishments,” John Foster, the international secretary of the Communist Party of Britain said. “China couldn’t have had all the successes without the leadership of the CPC.”

Innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development. This is what China is working on. This is what Zhejiang is working on: from cities to villages, from the environment to cutting edge technologies, the province is writing one of the most inspirational development stories.