The "Two Mountains" Scenic Area in southern Anji county, Huzhou in East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

The Zhejiang provincial department of natural resources announced a total of 16 exemplary cases for the province's implementation of the "Two Mountains" theory –  that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets – on Aug 5.

Cities and counties across Zhejiang province have been searching for new ways to achieve sustainable and high-quality development while keeping the environment healthy. Many successful examples of this have emerged over the past few years.

The provincial department began searching for these successful examples across the province as early as April, finding a total of 260. The examples were then narrowed to 16 through one round of online voting by hundreds of thousands of netizens and another round of evaluation by environmental experts, who ranked the examples according to their popularity, creativity, and socioeconomic effects.

The cities of Hangzhou, Ningbo, Huzhou, and Jiaxing were each home to two examples, and the other seven prefecture-level cities in Zhejiang were each home to one example on the list. The Zhejiang Academy of Surveying and Mapping, which has been providing surveying and mapping services for the treatment of water in the province, was also listed.

Let's take a look at the 16 examples: