East China's Shandong Province, which ranks third in the country in gross domestic product, has made remarkable progress in controlling pollution as part of a national effort.

According to figures from the Shandong Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau, the emission of sulfur dioxide in the province was reduced by 22 percent last year and that of suspended particles cut by five percent.

While improving pollution-control facilities in about 1,000 major enterprises last year, the province closed more than 3,000 small plants and mines that were causing serious pollution and consuming an excessive amount of fuel.

Some 88 percent of the urban garbage in the province is now treated before being discharged.

Tough measures have been taken in China's major polluted regions during the past three years, including the closing of tens of thousands of small polluting factories and mines across the country that failed to meet state pollutant-discharge requirements.

The country as a whole has closed 6,400 mines which produced 26 million tons of coal with high sulfur content each year, in its campaign to control sulfur dioxide and acid rain in 175 prefectures and cities.

By the end of November 1999, the total volume of 12 pollutants discharged into the air, water, and land across China, with the exception of solid industrial wastes, was well below the ceiling levels for 1999 set by the central government.