Workers conduct quality check on mulberry alcohol in Gaoqing County, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 12, 2018. The cultivation of mulberry trees and silkworms is a long-standing agricultural practice in Gaoqing County. In addition to a market-oriented business strategy, the local authorities encourages innovation and research to develop a green and sustainable mulberry-related industry, which not only produces mulberry leaves, but also turns out silk fabrics, mulberry leaf tea, mulberry alcohol, dried mulberry fruits and other derivative products. China has pledged to coordinate its efforts of environmental protection and economic development in 2019, an important year for winning the tough battle against pollution. At the annual Central Economic Work Conference earlier this month, authorities called for building on this year's achievement in pollution control, making more efforts and input in 2019. Since the turn of this year, China has made solid efforts to combat pollution and seen constant improvement of the environment. The Central Economic Work Conference made it clear that local governments must avoid past simple and unscrupulous practices in dealing with environmental problems. (Xinhua/Zhang Weitang)