MAYOR Ling Yun has been leading Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, since 2016. She is one of the two female mayors in China and has actively improved Hefei’s environment and enhanced collaboration spirit.
Environment-Friendly in the Making
Hefei has made a great achievement in fighting pollution and creating a blue sky, green mountains, and clean water for the people. As a result, the diameter of the concentration of airborne particulate matter (both PM 2.5 and PM 10) has been decreasing lately. Mayor Ling confirmed that Hefei now has good air quality reaching 85% and there is no heavy air pollution. The city has built a man-made forest for around 29 000 hectares in the 13th Five-Year Plan Period from 2015 to 2020. Mayor Ling Yun hopes that the citizen can appreciate and enjoy the green scenery from their balcony. Chaohu Lake in Hefei has also gone through major improvements in water quality. Mayor Ling Yun said, “We will not slow down our efforts in improving Chaohu’s environment and will strive to transform the lake into a beautiful and picturesque one with harmony between mankind and nature.”
Collaborations with Big Cities in Providing Services
Hefei has been providing support for the development of the contiguous urban area and Yangtze River Delta in public services, scientific and technological innovation, and infrastructure construction. Mayor Ling stated that the integration provides a strategic opportunity for the development of Hefei. The rapid high-speed railway construction and inter-city transportation will connect Hefei with other major cities. Furthermore, Mayor Ling Yun suggested that Hefei’s urban area be included in the plan of the Yangtze River Delta integration, mainly in upgrading Hefei Binhu Science City construction to a national-level project, with policy and service guaranteed. In the future, Hefei would have more forms of cooperation in education, medical, and healthcare services with other big cities like Shanghai, Ningbo, and Hangzhou.
Additionally, Mayor Ling also mentioned that Hefei with some major cities joined the “G60 High-Tech Corridor” project to build a demonstration area of high-quality development. She indicated concerns like the need for domestic and foreign market entities, a more coordinated regional development mechanism, and innovation-driven industrial clusters. She has also encouraged a total of nine cities, including Hefei to be cooperative for better development of the corridor. She believes these actions will enable Hefei, together with its contiguous urban area, to have obvious potential for future development.
Under the leadership of Mayor Ling, Hefei has a better environment and expands collaboration with other cities to provide a better living environment in long term.
Sources:
https://www.thenanjinger.com/news/nanjing-news/elected-nanjings-1st-female-mayor-is-2nd-in-all-of-china/
http://english.scio.gov.cn/chinavoices/2019-03/12/content_74560088.htm https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202103/09/WS604762c7a31024ad0baae072.html
