On September 28, the "Qingshui Riverside: Rural Bird Watching" Beizhuang Ecological Bird Watching Festival was held in Zhujiawan, Miyun.

Beizhuang Town is located upstream of the Miyun Reservoir in Beijing, with a forest coverage rate of 82.95% and a wetland area of 53 hectares. The section of the Qingshui He that runs through Beizhuang flows year-round, providing seasonal habitats for rare bird species such as egrets and swans. According to statistics, a total of 215 bird species have been recorded within the town's boundaries, including 6 species under first-class national protection, 33 species under second-class national protection, and 67 species under municipal protection.

The festival, themed "Qingshui Riverside: Rural Bird Watching," featured activities such as the Bird Watching Economy Salon, a walk along bird-watching trails, bird rescue and release, on-site bird-watching guidance, bird species education, an intangible cultural heritage kite-making experience, and a specialty agricultural product market. The aim was to allow participants to immerse themselves in the beauty of harmony between humans and nature in Beizhuang, the bird-watching town, through recognizing, watching, discussing, photographing, and painting birds.

In recent years, Beizhuang Town has leveraged its functional positioning and natural resources to clearly establish itself as a bird-watching town and develop a bird-watching economy, with the goal of becoming a model town for implementing the "Two Mountains" theory. Projects such as "Beautiful Villages," waterfowl protection, and wetland restoration for water birds have been successively implemented, with a focus on developing supporting bird-watching facilities like bird-watching trails, micro-wetlands, the Qingshui Guest Hall, and a science education corridor. The town has also actively partnered with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy to conduct bird-watching study programs and ecological summer camps. Since the beginning of this year, over 100 nature education activities centered on bird-watching have been organized, attracting 85,000 visitors and generating an economic income of 1.175 million yuan. The ecological reputation of Qingshui River Bird-Watching Town is becoming increasingly well-known.

Next, Beizhuang Town will continue to implement the "Two Mountains" theory, focusing on building a bird-watching town and developing the bird-watching economy. The town will further strengthen ecological protection, improve bird-watching infrastructure, and lead the development of the nature education industry. It aims to follow a distinctive path of rural revitalization that integrates "scientific exploration, ecological bird-watching, nature education, specialty agriculture, and intangible cultural heritage."

Translator: NIU Lihua

Reviewer: JIANG Yuanqin