The S14 Hangzhou-Changxing-Yixing Expressway winds through the lush mountains and lucid waters of Meishan Township in Changxing County of Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, on September 23, 2025.

Two decades ago, Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China insightfully articulated the concept that lush mountains and lucid waters are invaluable assets, later also knowns as “green is gold.” This philosophy has since evolved into a cornerstone of China’s ecological civilization, garnering international recognition and establishing the country as a pacesetter in the global green transition.  

China has systematically transformed this vision into a tangible reality. In Zhejiang, scarred mountainsides have been revitalized into thriving tourism destinations; in Fujian, the Min River Basin has become a testing ground for innovative “mountain-and-sea co-governance” models; along Guangdong’s coast, Huizhou’s mangroves are morphing from “coastal blue carbon sinks” into literal gold-standard reserves. Nationwide, carbon peaking and carbon neutrality are hard-wired into the country’s development plans. Chinese innovations have driven global levelized energy costs down 60 percent for wind and 80 percent for photovoltaic in just ten years. 

Through climate-focused South-South cooperation, China has signed 42 country-level cooperation agreements and mobilized more than RMB 177 billion in finance, giving some small-island and least-developed countries the tools to cut emissions and build resilience. 

Born out of the Chinese experience, the “green is gold” concept is now circulating as shared global wisdom. It is steadily painting the country’s own portrait of a Beautiful China, where humans and nature coexist in harmony, and offers a viable pathway towards a shared, sustainable future for all.