On the afternoon of May 21, The Establishment of "National Ecological Civilization Day" on August 15 Every Year was propounded at the plenary meeting of the Zhejiang delegation. After a heated discussion, the representatives reached the agreement to submit it to the National People's Congress. It is the first proposal put forward in the name of the Zhejiang delegation.

The proposal on the establishment of August 15 as the "National Ecological Civilization Day" is based on the idea of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" advocated by President Xi Jinping on August 15, 2005. He was then the Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and inspected the Yu village in Anji County, Zhejiang Province. For 15 years, the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains" has been bearing fruit in Zhejiang: the innovation of eco-civilization system takes a leading position across the country with two "tops" in the green development and the balanced development in urban and rural areas; the sustainable development is in the advanced level all over the world.

At present, there are several provinces and cities that have set up Ecological Civilization Day including Zhejiang, Guizhou, and Xi'an.

Huzhou, a city in Zhejiang officially designated August 15 as "Huzhou Ecological Civilization Day" in 2015.

However, due to the disunity over the dates of Ecological Civilization Day which affects the propaganda scale and strength of ecological civilization construction, it is of great necessity to set up the "National Ecological Civilization Day".

Fang Min, director of the National People's Congress and director of the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, believes that the "National Ecological Civilization Day" is a medium to spread the ecological civilization thought of President Xi to the whole country and even the whole world. It provides system compliance and guarantees for the implementation of the "lucid waters and lush mountains" theory in the whole country.

(Compiled by Xu Yuhong)