China suffered from slight droughts in the past six months than the average in the previous years, according to China Meteorological Administration.

The droughts have affected 15 million hectares of farmland across the country in the past half year and the situation was relatively slighter than the previous years, said Dong Wenjie, director of the National Climate Center under China Meteorological Administration.

Though it is relatively slighter, the drought still wrecked havoc in southern China for three seasons from last autumn and winter to this spring. Yunnan Province reported the most serious spring droughts in half a century. Jiangsu Province and Shanghai reported serious summer droughts.

The droughts are now threatening the northwestern parts of China, the middle parts of north China, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle and eastern parts of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the eastern part of Heilongjiang Province.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2005)