Yangtze conservation work making progress cleaning up chemical firms

Over the past three years, Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co Ltd has shut down about one-third of its production capacity and four chemical waste discharge flues along the Yangtze River.

The moves are in line with government calls for improving ecological protection and cleaning up China's "mother river", which has faced severe environmental challenges in recent years.

Central government bodies and provincial authorities along the river have been prioritizing the protection of the Yangtze since 2016, when President Xi Jinping highlighted environmental restoration and protection in and around the country's longest waterway.