As China promotes environmental progress, Meng Fansheng, a water researcher in Beijing, often travels to share his expertise about pollution control and monitoring.

Among his destinations, Xianning, Hubei province, stands out. He spent more than 40 days there last year.

"I visited the city every week or two. Mostly, I went as needs arose," said Meng, who works at the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences. It wasn't easy for him to find the time, but he was duty-bound to respond.

Meng leads a team dispatched by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, whose job is to help the city improve the quality of various water bodies in the Yangtze River Basin as the country's central leadership increasingly emphasizes conservation. Xianning is one of 58 cities along the country's longest river, each of which has a designated team working to improve water quality.

Under a mechanism that features both frontline and follow-up research, the teams have tapped more than 5,000 experts from some 300 research institutes, according to the National Joint Research Center for Yangtze River Conservation. The center was established by the ministry in April 2018.

President Xi Jinping has presided over two national conferences about the Yangtze River Economic Belt, in January 2016 and April 2018. At both conferences, he demanded concerted efforts to protect the Yangtze and avoid excessive development.