The provinces and regions along the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River are underdeveloped areas, showing a significant gap compared to the eastern regions and the Yangtze River basin, with the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries lagging behind... Faced with the developmental challenges along the Yellow River, President Xi Jinping has pinpointed the issues. The development of the Yellow River basin has long been plagued by uneven development levels, insufficient endogenous momentum, and fragile ecological environments... These problems stem from both inherent objective constraints and human factors of neglect.

The Maerdang Hydropower Station is located on the mainstream of the Yellow River at the junction of Tongde County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and Maqin County, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The project site has an average elevation of meters, with a total installed capacity of ten thousand kilowatts. It is the highest-altitude and largest-capacity hydropower project under construction in the Yellow River Basin. It is a key energy project for both the state and Qinghai Province, and also a major power source for the implementation of the state's "West-to-East Electricity Transmission" and "Qinghai-to-Henan Electricity Transmission" initiatives. On a certain date, the first unit of the Maerdang Hydropower Station was officially connected to the grid and began generating electricity.

To promote high-quality development, we must "use as much water as we have to make as much bread as we can." Water is the lifeline of development. However, one of China's national conditions is water scarcity, especially in the Yellow River Basin. Here's a set of data: the provinces and regions along the Yellow River, with a certain percentage of the country's water resources, support a certain percentage of the national population, arable land, grain production, and GDP. "The Yellow River has only so much water. Ecological construction requires water, and economic development and daily life also cannot do without water. We cannot treat water as an infinitely supplied resource," President Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out. "We must adhere to the principle of determining the size of cities, land, population, and production based on water availability," and "'use as much water as we have to make as much bread as we can,' we must meticulously manage water resources to ensure they are used where they are most needed." Establishing a zoning control system for water resource carrying capacity, limiting the scale of urban development in areas with severe water shortages, the construction of high water-consuming projects, and large-scale tree planting, and establishing a total water withdrawal and use control system covering the entire basin... In recent years, the entire Yellow River Basin has taken action, and the concept of "using as much water as we have to make as much bread as we can" has been deeply integrated into the development of various industries.

To promote high-quality development, it is essential to firmly establish the "one-board game" concept. Those who do not plan for the overall situation are not capable of planning for a specific area. The call for regions such as the Three Rivers Source and Qilian Mountains to "create more ecological products," the instruction to major grain-producing areas like the Hetao Irrigation District and the Fenwei Plain to "contribute to ensuring national food security," and the guidance to economically developed regions such as regional central cities to "enhance their capacity to support economic and population growth"—all reflect President Xi Jinping's precise planning of the development orientations for various provinces along the Yellow River from a holistic perspective, urging the regions along the Yellow River to firmly establish the "one-board game" concept. Shandong and Qinghai provinces have signed agreements to deepen cooperation in areas such as climate change response, green and low-carbon development, biodiversity conservation, smart ecological Yellow River, and ecological environmental protection industries. Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces have entered into agreements to jointly advance ecological environmental protection in the Jin-Shaanxi Grand Canyon, the Fenwei Plain, and other areas, working together to achieve "clear waters flowing into the Yellow River" on both banks. Henan and Shandong provinces have reached cooperation to promote the coordinated development of the Shandong Peninsula Urban Agglomeration and the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration through interconnected transportation infrastructure, providing strong support for the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. "The development along the Yellow River must have a sense of the overall situation, considering from the national and holistic perspective, and firmly establishing the 'one-board game' concept," President Xi Jinping has clearly emphasized.