Ten-year-old Ma Ding got up early on yesterday's chilly morning, although he has just finished the final exams of this semester.

 

Ma, with his seven schoolmates from Beijing Ya'er Hutong Primary School, went to the street of Zhongguancun, Haidian District to offer tips on energy saving.

 

"If everyone in China pulls out the plugs after using electrical appliances, 18 billion kilowatt-hours will be saved," he told the people who stopped to listen to him.

 

The activity he participated was the opening ceremony of the energy saving campaign, "20 ways to 20%," launched by the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) China in Beijing on Saturday.

 

Dermot O'Gorman, WWF China country representative, said the campaign, which will run till 2008, is expected to engage the general public in energy saving, which will contribute to the fulfillment of China's goal to reduce its per-unit GDP energy consumption by 20 percent by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan.

 

"We are sending a clear message to the public that saving energy is simple and easy as child's play," he said.

 

He said that the WWF will also organize a competition to find out the "energy saving heroes" among the ordinary people.

 

"I will tell the tips to my parents and friends, making them understand they can do a lot in their daily life to save energy," Ma Ding said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2007)