Anthony
(4) Fund Allocated in Fighting Acid Rain
[CND, 02/14/97] China's State Council has granted 450 billion yuan (54
billion dollars) to finance plans attacking acid rain, the AFP reported. The
minister of the National Environment Protection Agency, XIE Zhenhua,
revealed the decision to journalists on Thursday. According to Xie, the goal
of the project is "to control sulphur dioxide emissions and ease the growth
of acid rain area by 2000." The plan will focus on 1.09 million square
kilometers (436,000 square miles) of area. The covered areas are about 11.4
percent of China's landmass, and are currently most seriously polluted by
the acid rain effect. According to Xie, land visibly affected by acid rain
pollution has increased to 30 percent of China's total territory.
While pledging the central government's determination in attacking acid
rain, Xie reiterated regulations governing pollution offender's
responsibility, and local government's share for cleaning up. He also
appealed to international communities for financial help, particularly to
Korea and Japan whose lands have been heavily affected by acid rain from
China. (Hua ZHAO, Ray ZHANG)
(1) 7 Billion Books Published in China in 1997
China published 7.1 billion books with 120,000 titles in 1997, a moderate
increase over 1996, the Press and Publications Administration said this
week. The industry earned 36 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion), a 30 per cent
increase over 1996, and showed a profit for the third year in a row. Experts
say that China is becoming the world's biggest potential book market, in
spite of the fact that Chinese generally own very few books. China is
planning to import more books to increase the market, administration
officials say.
(8) Environment Awareness on Campus
Self-motivated environmental organizations have become the rage at Chinese
universities and colleges, coinciding with communities' increasing
environmental awareness. At Hebei Business University, "Son of the Nature"
has been organizing lectures on the environment and publicity campaigns
focusing on wildlife protection. Members often conduct spot investigations
to detect pollution and the harm it causes to local residences. In Beijing,
the "Wild Creatures Science Association" of Northeast University of Forestry
publishes a journal and newspaper regularly outlining members' activities
and their theses focusing on wildlife protection. Beijing University
Environment and Development Association is one of the most active
organizations. Since its founding, it has investigated the impact of
pollution on campus lakes, and monitored noise pollution at campus
construction sites. The association also publishes its own newsletters and
documents.