Some two million Beijing residents and men and officers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army participated in Saturday's annual voluntary tree-planting activities held across the Chinese capital.  

The participants coming from all walks of life, including central and local government officials, armed police, government employees, workers, farmers and students, planted more than 3 million trees, nursed and tended 4.07 million growing trees, and cleaned up 5.52 million square meters of green lands, according to the Beijing Greening Committee.

In 1985, the Beijing Municipal People's Congress designated the first weekend day of every April as a voluntary day for tree planting, as a substantial effort to increase general public awareness among the people of the importance of afforestation for environment improvement.

Since the voluntary tree-planting campaign was launched nationwide in over the past two decades following 1981, a total of142 million trees have been planted in Beijing, 126 million of which remain alive.

Beijing municipality plans to afforest 34,700 hectares of local areas in 2004, increasing local forest coverage from 47.5 percent in 2003 to 49 percent, and average green lands available for every urbanite from 44 square meters to 45 square meters.

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2004)