If you go to Suzhou Creek some night, you will be amazed to see a fascinating picture of clean water, green trees and couples leisurely strolling hand in hand, which may make it hard for you to imagine that it used to be a creek notorious for its stench.

Suzhou Creek, the mother river of Shanghai, covers a total length of 125 kilometers. But with the industrial and economic development of the city, the mother river was severely polluted. In the 1920s, various factories, including textile factory and chemical factory, were set up along the river This boom of factories made the river well-known for its smell and dirtiness and gradually it become a gross drawback of the beauty of the city.

It has been a long-nourished dream of the Shanghaier to restore the river to its original clean-and-clear look. After years’efforts of the government and citizens, the water quality in the river has been further improved and the ecological system is renewed. By 2010 when the Shanghai Expo is held, undoubtedly the river will become a brilliant pearl on the crown of the city.