Known as the birthplace for the "Two Mountains" Theory - lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets - Anji, a mountainous county in East China's Zhejiang province, has been striving to tap a new way to achieve sustainable and high-quality development while keeping the environment green. 

The county, located in Huzhou of Zhejiang province, was recently approved as a pilot zone for the successful implementation of the theory by provincial authorities with ecology being at the forefront.

The province aims to build the county into a national sample of both green development and integrated development of urban and rural areas by 2022.

President Xi Jinping came up with the theory during his visit to Anji in 2005, when he was Party secretary of Zhejiang province.

On Nov 20, 2017, a meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform presided by Xi passed a three-year action plan for improving the rural living environment in China. 

According to the plan, the country aims to make remarkable improvements in rural areas by 2020. Villages should be clean and tidy, and villagers should have enhanced hygiene and health awareness. 

As early as 2001, the county of Anji decided to follow an ecology-oriented development path instead of the previous one that depended on resource consumption. Since then, the county has held fast to environmental protection. In the process of matching its ecological advantages to the forces of development, Anji insists on green development by greatly promoting environmentally friendly industries like eco-agriculture and tourism.