Plant closures protect Yangtze

Yichang, a central Chinese city on the bank of the Yangtze River, will close or relocate all its chemical enterprises within 1 kilometer of the river and its key tributaries by the end of next year.

Vice-Mayor Yuan Weidong also promised to remove those in areas that may damage drinking water resources by the end of 2019 and relocate hazardous-chemical plants located in highly populated areas by the end of this year.

He said that 25 of the city's 134 chemical plants had been shut down by the end of 2017, in answer to the nation's call for green manufacturing and protecting the 6,300-km-long Yangtze, China's longest river.