In 1985, primary school students sent a letter to the mayor of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, begging him to clean up the Fu and Nan Rivers that encircle the city.

The rivers had been horribly fouled by the breakneck pace of urbanization in China that dumped 650,000 tons of industrial and untreated waste into them daily. Heavy siltation reduced them to a trickle in summer and often caused flooding in winter.

The city responded with a comprehensive plan that was notable for the participation of a wide array of civic groups, schools, private interests and government agencies.

Roughly 30,000 poor families agreed to move from shanty towns to medium-rise apartment buildings. The Fu and the Nan were dredged, dikes were built, 24 bridges were built or renovated and 12 new wharves were added. Gardens and riverside parks turned the riverfronts from slums to vibrant and welcoming destinations for residents and tourists alike.

The "greening" of Chengdu created 500,000 jobs, nearly tripling the per capita income in the region, and included the cleaning up or closing of more than 1,000 commercial sources of pollution.

Chengdu's award-winning rehabilitation has drawn delegations from China's other major cities to study its methods and many of its planners have taken their expertise to other towns and districts in the region.