A Brief Introduction to Green Cross

       Beijing Green Cross was founded in December 2003.  It is registered in the Civil Affairs Bureau as a non-governmental and non-profit organization for environmental protection.

Objectives: Do good deeds, provide services for rural villagers.

Green Cross’s Philosophy: To do.

Focus: Rural and urban environmental restoration; village planning and design; training for a system of new rural construction; education about public participation in issues of environment, civilization and morality.

Green Cross’s Essential Intention: As the Red Cross rescues people, the Green Cross rescues Nature.

Method of Implementation: Understand the facts, understand the reasons, participate, sustain.

Main Activities:

A.     Disaster Relief and Rebuilding:

1.  Four days after the 5/12 Sichuan Earthquake, Green Cross and volunteers provided donations of money and clothes to the disaster area, in addition to five truckloads of food, medicine and bottled water, worth over 270 thousand yuan.  The five trucks arrived in Beichuan County on May 20.

2.  Green Cross paid multiple investigative visits to severe disaster areas in Mianzhu and Shifang counties of Sichuan, entering deep into damaged villages and rural areas. There, they investigated how to resolve the housing problems of displaced villagers.  Based on the government’s subsidy program and the villagers’ support capabilities, Green Cross proposed a step-by-step plan for the gradual rebuilding of permanent housing to help villagers realize their dreams of having a home to which to return.  The plan received the welcome of the disasater-area government and villagers.

3.  In order to provide better reconstruction services for the earthquake disaster area, on September 20^th Beijing Green Cross established the post-disaster rural reconstruction office in Shifang City and submitted an application to the Narada Foundation for a “Rural Planning and Reconstruction Workshop.”  Approved that year, this project’s aims were:

a)         To establish a localized “Rural Planning and Reconstruction Workshop” and provide post-disaster recovery reconstruction services directly to rural areas

b)        Plan and design permanent housing for rural disaster areas that are within the villagers’ capability to build

c)        To bring professional supervision of construction quality to housing reconstruction projects

This program’s goal is to eventually carry out planning and housing design for areas of heavy damage in Mianzhu and Shifang counties; specifically in the following villages of Mianzhu City: groups 1, 3 and 9 of Qin Family Kan Village, groups 1 and 3 of Dong Yue Village, group 8 of Wen Feng Village and the entire village of Maoquan in Jiannan Town; and of Shifang City: the entire village of Yue Jiang in Luoshui Town and group 1 of Lianhe village.  With the support of governmental policies, by the fall of 2009 all of the villages participating in the program except Yue Jiang Village (which had merged with Lianhe Village) were housed in their own permanent new homes.  This project has benefited the farmers of these six villages, who together number nearly 4000 people, as well as has brought a positive influence to other disaster areas.  Groups 1 and 3 of the Qin Family Kan Village have already launched an environmental management and livelihood planning pilot program which promotes specialized planting to increase villagers’ incomes.

In order to better address reconstruction and villager livelihood, the “One Foundation Green Home Project” by the Jet Li One Foundation was approved in April 2009.  The main objectives of this project are:

1.       Provide complete reconstruction plans and specialized housing designs for Yue Jiang Village.

2.       To raise villagers’ quality of life by building the One Foundation Activity Center and the Comprehensive Waste Reuse Building, and provide a model for disaster-area reconstruction.

3.       To have 100% of villagers complete housing reconstruction and move into new houses.

4.       To involve villagers and cadre leaders in housing reconstruction and participation capacity training, and to promote villager self-governance.

5.       Create an industrial restructuring plan to make an effort to resolve the subsistence of the farmers.

Shifang City Government approved the Yue Jiang Village plan, and awarded it 12000 square meters of commercial space in order to support the livelihoods of landless villagers.  This village will become a model for rural reconstruction in Shifang City.  In the fourth quarter of 2009, the village received the support of the Beijing Reconstruction Department, and the village hopes to become a highlight of the Beijing Reconstruction Department’s disaster area reconstruction projects.  In January 6, 2010, village reconstruction began in full, with completion projected before May 12th.  Green Cross is now actively planning the development of the villagers’ future livelihoods.

B.        New Village Design Pilot: In order to improve urban and rural ecological environments, Green Cross is actively promoting a variety of models of rural construction and design.

1.  “Wushan Model” pilot and “Quality Wushan” projects: In December 2003, Green Cross began the “Wushan Model” and “Quality Wushan, New Yanhe Village” pilot projects to promote ecological culture in Yanhe Village of Wushan Town, Gucheng County, Xiangfan City, Hubei Province.  The projects aim to do away with “develop first, manage later” practices, promote “live first, produce later” thinking and mobilize villagers to practice waste separation in order to raise quality of life and increase revenue of villagers through environmental improvement and green economy development.  In the years of 2004 to 2008, villagers’ per capita income increased 15%, 11.5%, 12.06%, 11.23%, and 15.72%, respectively.  In 2005, Yanhe Village was honored with the titles “Xiangfan City’s Number One Eco-Friendly Village” and “The New Village of Socialism in Hubei Province.”  In the August 2005 Central Committee, Hubei Provincial Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng instructed the Provincial Department of Construction "to seriously study the Wushan Model,” and in March 30, 2006, he visited Yanhe Village to survey it personally.  On April 7, 2006 in Gucheng County, Green Cross convened a field experience meeting for Hubei Province to promote the “Wushan Model”.  In September 4, 2009, the Party Political Bureau of the Central Committee member Li Changchun visited Xiangfan City to survey village culture-building.  While the “Villager’s House” designed and built by Green Cross in Yanhe Village, he said: “The Wushan ‘Ecological Wushan, Cultural Village’ project’s planning, design and location are very well thought-out; they are appropriate for the realities of the countryside.”  The World Bank has undertaken to support training local villagers to promote the “Wushan Model.”  The project won third place in the 2006 "Ford Motor Conservation & Environmental Grants" competition among the natural environment protection projects.  The award money was used to support local projects in Huangya Village and Hejiawan Village to promote “Wushan Model” capability training and technical skills training.  In 2009, a Green Cross-designed “Village Reception Center,” reflecting the characteristics and culture of Northwest Hubei, was completed and opened for use, along with 13 households of boutique “Nongjiale” commercial houses.  Green Cross implemented a plan of collective management, which prevented harmful competition.  Farmers, enterprises and people of all walks of life have come from all over the country to study in the countryside.  In 2009, localrevenue from tourism exceeded 8 million yuan, and the local per capita income reached 6250 yuan, 2.4 times the per capita income of 2004.

2.  “New Urban Housing” Pilot Project: The entire village of Chenggouwan in Zhuquan Township, Yanqing County, Beijing had to be relocated because of landslide danger.  In accordance with Green Cross’s two-phase construction plan for new village housing, the entire village to new housing in 2007 and 2008.  No petitions were filed and the government and farmers were very satisfied.

3.  “Mohammed – Wang Tai”  Achieving an ethnically harmonious new countryside, from three village groups into a complete village: This project began in January 2007 with cooperation of the Banqiaodian Town government in Yicheng City, Hubei Province, with three village groups in Wang Tai Village.  The resident population of Hui ethnic group in the village consists of 62 households of 276 people who arrived in 1966 from the construction of the Danjiangkou Reservoir.  In the village, the soil is poor, the environment is mediocre and villager life is impoverished.  Because of differences in Hui culture that contradict with Han customs, major conflicts have occurred, sometimes resulting in fatal consequences.  The core of this project is to initiate citizen participation, establish village self-government, develop a specialized economy, restore religious faith, and raise legal awareness.  The project thus hopes to develop the three groups in Wang Tai to have self-governing citizens, good ecology, developed economy and harmonious ethnic relations.  The name of the village was changed in 2009 to Wang Tai Ethnic Village, so that it can expand its influence and become a model of ethnic harmony and unity to similar villages in the region.

In following with the Hui traditional skill in raising cattle and in the interest of the prosperity of the village, the project established a cattle cooperative using immigration assistance funds and government new rural construction funds.  Four Wang cow villas were completed by the end of December 2007.  The project has enhanced the Hui people’s legal understanding and developed activities to encourage ethnic unity.  Interpersonal relations have become more friendly and charitable, and conflicts with surrounding village groups have dropped more than 90%.  In order to further strengthen ethnic unity, the village name was changed to Wang Tai Ethnic Village in 2009.  With the support of the town government and entrepreneurs, the Wang cow villa facilities were completely restored and renovated, and in 2009, farmers slaughtered 420 of their 502 heads of cattle for a profit of 1.28 million yuan.  The village was designated by the Hubei Ethnic Affairs Commission as one of the first of five villages to participate in a provincial ethnic minority village protection and development pilot project.  In 2009, the per capita net income reached 6046 yuan, a 19.8% increase from 2008.

During the project, the three village groups planted over 8000 trees, which represented the villagers’ group-centered way of doing things.  Problems were solved within the village group without a need to appeal to higher authorities.  In 2009, several construction projects were undertaken, including a 820 square meter public square, containing a stage and resting and exercise installations; a 140 square meter activity center that includes offices, learning centers and entertainment centers; a project to dig an embankment pond; willow planting; the construction of a lotus pond; water supply improvement; implementation of waste separation; and a generalk restoration of the rural character of the village.

4.  “Landscape Gallery – Lijiang” Project: This project is located in Yu Village and Dahebei Village in Xingping Town, Yangshuo County, Guilin, Guangxi.  It began in July 2007.  The project’s objectives are to build the village for recreational tourism and enable the villagers to use a democratic form of management during the rural construction process.  Longpan Agricultural Resource Development Co., Ltd. donated funds to support the project.

In order to protect the beauty of Lijiang’s original ecology, state policy stipulates that the area within 90 km of both shores of the Lijiang River cannot be developed.  This has caused extreme poverty for the numerous villagers who remain in the area and make their living by fishing from bamboo rafts or planting fruits and vegetables.  These villagers have a per capita income of about 1500 yuan a year.

The project’s first action was to save a thousand year-old camphor tree in Dahebei Village.  The camphor tree was more than 1500 years old, its crown covering an area of more than 2000 square meters and the thinnest portion of its trunk still needed six people to encircle it.  However, because of reckless development under the tree, piling of sand, overcrowding by bamboo and fruit trees and waist-thick parasitic climbing plants on the trunk, many tree branches had already died and the tree’s life was in danger.  Because of this, Green Cross volunteer Guo Lin began to raise funds locally, and in two months raised 50 thousand yuan from the community.  With these funds, she was able to clear the construction, trash, bamboo stands and fruit trees under the tree, as well as the parasitic plants off the trunk.  She added organic fertilizer, and the tree glowed with new life.

An environmental group was set up in the village which implemented waste separation.  The villagers enthusiastically embraced projects to build home biogas digesters and reduced the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, greatly improving the village environment.  Renovation of the village’s dilapidated elementary school was also completed.  The newly renovated school will serve as a training center to teach Green Cross’s philosophy to Xingping Town and the 13 village party committees under its administration, and the over 1700 cadre members from 65 “nature” villages.

5.  “Yinji – Garden City” Project: This project began in 2009 with support of the Xiangfan City government and the cooperation of the Xiangcheng District government, to transform the township of Yinji into a city that relies on its gardens and makes its locality its main emphasis – a Garden City.  Yinji Township is located in Xiangcheng District, 8 km southwest of the city center of Xiangfan in Hubei Province.  Its landscape resources are abundant, transportation is convenient and its natural scenery is beautiful.  It is an undeveloped treasure of natural beauty.  This program hopes to create in Yinji Township the dream homeland found in the poems of ancient Xiangyang, an image known to city-dwellers and villagers alike.  The project will allow local inhabitants to both enjoy the quality of modern urban life and also be surrounded by the beautiful environment of the countryside.  This will raise the quality of life for local farmers, improve the living environment and increase the value of the land.  The project will create an ideal space where the relationship between people and nature, nature and industry, and industry and human habitat are harmonious and symbiotic; thus achieving the coexistence of people and nature, nature and the economy, economy and society, and society and people.

The 2009-2010 year will be mainly for preparatory research, mobilizing the population, consulting with experts and seeking the support of government policies.  Beginning with Fenghuang Village, Green Cross has created a project budget and produced a preliminary blueprint for the bright future of “Yinji – Garden City.”

6.  “Wugu Yuanyuan, Green Wenan”: This two-year project was started in December 2009, in cooperation with the Wenan Town government in Hubei province.  The project chose Zhenguanmiao village, the number two highway and the market town as pilot projects to establish and promote a new, town-centered village-building process.

       In 2009, the tenth year of Green Cross’s village-building experience, Green Cross prepared teaching materials for “An Introduction to Farmer Participation in Rural Village Construction.”  In January 2010 the training program was launched in the Zhijiang City party school.  The goal of the training was to improve the quality of village cadres, train local teachers, train a local rural reconstruction force, establish a village-centered rural reconstruction system, and to accelerate the construction of new villages.  The training program was very well received in the town, and was able to prepare the town’s workforce for future development.

7.  The Shandong “Garden Village of Fangcheng, Duke Yan’s Village of Zhuman” Project: This project’s objectives are to create a pastoral-style town center as the core of the town, bring the style of famous calligrapher Yan Zhenqing into the town’s architectural style, interpret the central authorities’ policies on construction of a new countryside in an applicable way, and complete the rural and urban unification of Zhuman Village and Fangcheng Town.  The goal of this project is to give the farmers hope and increase the town’s standing.

C.  Integrated Programs:

1.  Non-Governmental Public Service Desk: Give strength to saving the environment, give spirit to the Green Olympics, and give your future life a bit of green!  This program advocated green consumerism through promoting the practice of recycling paper products.  It had the support of the Henderson Center, Tetra-pak, Hong Kong-based Huang-Jia China Investment Company and Taiwan-based Riquan Company.  Non-governmental public service desks were set up in the Beijing Henderson Center in 2004 and in the No. 77 Street Public Square in Xidan in 2005.  Used paper products such as newspapers, books, magazines, office paper and packaging paper can be taken to the desk and exchanged for new stationary products such as different sized office papers, homework books, notebooks, picture albums, memo pads, letter paper, envelopes, copy paper and eco-pencils (made from recycled paper); environmentally-friendly products such as solar-powered watches, flashlights and tools to save natural gas; and even elegant made-to-order business cards made from recycled paper.  Using the Service Desk is the equivalent of holding a tree-planting event in your home, school or office.  The program was well-received by people of all walks of life.

2.  Lucent Cup “Caring for Life’s Water, Cherishing a Green Beijing” Science Popularization Education Event:  The Green Cross co-hosted this event with the Chinese Museum of Science and Technology in 2004, with the support of Lucent Technologies.  The opening ceremony was followed by: the “Science Popularization Lecture and Story Meeting;” the “Household Water Conservation Program Evaluation;” “Water Quality Analysis,” on a water reservoir near Beijing; “Danjiangkou Reservoir Investigation,” on south-to-north water diversion; “The Interaction Between School and Society;” a “Results Report,” and other related events.  More than 50 schools, 100,000 elementary and middle-school students, and citizens of three communities participated.

3.  Resource Recycling Educational Activity: From March 2005 to April 2006, Green Cross held the “Resource Recycling Educational Activity” in 30 EPD schools in Chaoyang District, which focused on recycling soft packaging materials.  The program also promoted waste separation and brought recycling awareness into people’s everyday lives.  The event featured the “Green Cross Eco-House: The Future House of the Chinese People,” which exhibited the uses of resource recycling within the home, demonstrating that an eco-friendly lifestyle is within reach.  The program won second place in the 2005 “Toyota Chinese Youth Environmental Award.”  The prize money was donated to build the “Villager’s House” and the Eco-Plaza in Yanhe Village of Wushan Town, Gucheng County, Hubei Province.  The projects in Hubei were completed on June 15, 2007.  Through these projects, Green Cross was able to reach a wider audience on resource recycling and principles of sustainable development.  On September 14, 2007, the “Villager’s House” was visited by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee member, Comrade Li Changchun.

4.  Publication of the Green Cross New Countryside Construction Book Series: Drawing from over ten years of practical experience in new countryside construction, Green Cross published a set of five books on the “Wushan Model” new countryside construction through the People’s Publishing Press.  The books are intended to raise the local cadre’s capacity for new countryside construction.  The books are organized around previous project cases and use both practices and principles to describe the new countryside construction process.  The series contributes to the advancement of knowledge in rural construction in China.

5.  Publication of the free “Green Cross Newsletter” and New Countryside Construction monographs:  With the support of the World Bank and GGF, Green Cross published the “Green Cross Newsletter,” as well as “Wushan Monograph” and “Wang Tai Monograph,” which discuss new countryside construction.  These publications promote the significance of environmental protection for public duty, report on news in urban environmental protection and rural ecological construction, and share national and international ideas and experiences in environmental protection.  The articles present and highlight specific environmental cases as well as environmental knowledge.  The material provides updates on Green Cross’s work and submits policy recommendations to the government.  In addition, during the course of each of Green Cross’s projects, the newsletter produces special additions that promote and inform about the project.

6.  Survey of 100 Households on Waste Separation: In March 2006, Green Cross collected firsthand information from more than 100 households in communities within Beijing about their household waste.  The information was used to create solutions for city waste reduction from the source and to provide an accurate base of knowledge for the industrialization of waste management.

7.  Green Cross Cooperation with Other NGOs in Launching the “26 Degrees AC” and Green Journey Activities in 2005 and 2006: The 26 Degrees AC event has received the government’s attention and influenced their policies.  The Green Journey expanded in 2007 to create a national action network to effectively and quickly bring change to the various problems of city traffic.  This network included the environmental organizations of 20 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hong Kong and Lhasa.  Green Cross was the Beijing member of this network.