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CHINA / WETLANDS
STORY: CHINA/ WETLANDS
TRT: 2.40
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: MANDARIN/ NATS
DATELINE: JUNE 2010, CIXI, CHINA
1. Wide shot, estuary
2. Wide shot, flowers in water
3. Med shot, deer
4. Wide shot, birds
5. Med shot, bird
6. Med shot, water
7. Close up, worker
8. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Cen Baifeng, Vice Director of Cixi Tourism:
“This is one of the biggest wetlands in China, and birds are already migrating from all over East Asia, and it has the potential to be an even bigger magnet for birds and wildlife.”
9. Med shot, flowers
10. Med shot, flowers
11. Wide shot, pan from reeds to water
12. Close up, flowers
13. Close up, reeds
14. Wide shot, estuary
15. Close up, speaker
16. Wide shot, building
17. Med shot, tourists on boats
18. Med shot, tourists in boats on the water
19. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Hu Jinxin, Tourist:
“I’ve been to other wetlands and this one could use a little more to look at but it is pretty nice and I hope more and more tourists will come here and look at it.”
20. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Zhang Jing, Tourist:
“It improves the environment, and if there were no wetlands here, it’d be a commercial place with buildings, and birds and plants would have nowhere to go.”
21. Wide shot, water
22. Close up, plants
23. Med shot, water filter
24. Wide shot, scenery
25. Med shot, tourists
26. Med shot, tourists on golf carts
27. Med shot, tourists walking
28. Close up, guide with map
29. Close up, feet
30. Medium, guide
31. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yuan Shanping, Worker:
“This improves the income of the locals, staff is all local, boat drivers, they’re local, they know their way around here and so provide better service.”
32. Wide shot, deer
33. Wide shot, water pens
34. Wide shot, pier
35. Med shot, flowers
36. Med shot, flowers
37. Wide shot, pier
Strong economic growth in East Asia has taken its toll on the environment. A new push is aiming to preserve land near the East China Sea, and the creatures that rely upon it.
Estuaries wind through fields of grass and wildflowers. A small group of endangered Milu deer search for patches of shade. And birds, 152 different species of birds, nest along the water’s edge.
These are the Cixi wetlands carved out of a corner of China next to Hangzhou Bay.
SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Cen Baifeng, Vice Director of Cixi Tourism
“This is one of the biggest wetlands in China, and birds are already migrating from all over East Asia, and it has the potential to be an even bigger magnet for birds and wildlife.”
The water from the land nearby is often polluted; fertilizer from farming, runoff from towns. This is a new man-made wetland; built with assistance from the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank. The wetlands rely on plants and bacteria to clean and filter the water. The pond here is in the shape of the Chinese character for kidney, because it works like one.
Loud Chinese pop music pours out of speakers designed to look like rocks. It washes over the environmental education center as gaggles of tourists go for boat tours.
SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Hu Jinxin, tourist “I’ve been to other wetlands and this one could use a little more to look at but it is pretty nice and I hope more and more tourists will come here and look at it.”
SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Hu Jinxin, Tourist:
“It improves the environment, and if there were no wetlands here, it’d be a commercial place with buildings, and birds and plants would have nowhere to go.”
The goal here is to protect the land, filter ground water, and provide a home for birds and animals. But local officials hope the wetlands are also a draw for tourists. They expect 200,000 visitors next year.
The wetlands also benefit some locals, who’ve found work on the land or as tour guides.
SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yuan Shanping, Worker:
“The wetlands only opened yesterday and the whole thing is so brand new that the plastic wrap is still on benches and on the bikes that are going to be rented to tourists.”
Scientists calculate that China contains approximately 10 percent of all living species on Earth. Since much of China’s biodiversity is under threat from a rapidly growing human population. A large proportion of China’s remaining biodiversity is located in nature reserves, like this one.
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