Special supplement: Improved environment wins praise

Ya Feng, who has been away from his home city Chengdu for 14 years, was pleased to find that the Shahe River, once a stinking sludge with ugly buildings on both sides, is now clean, with its riverbanks surrounded by lush land and gardens.

"I cannot believe what I have seen, a dramatic change seems to have taken place all of a sudden," he says.

The Shahe River used to provide water for daily consumption and industrial use for more than 450 enterprises and some 100,000 people in the city's eastern suburbs.