Top Chinese Leaders Plant Trees on "Olympic Green"As a gesture of support for Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and other top leaders, including Li Peng and Zhu Rongji, planted trees Sunday on the "Olympic Green," a theme park specially created for the anticipated event.Beijing has promised a "Green Olympics" to the International Olympic Committee. The first Sunday of April is Beijing's Voluntary Tree Planting Day. More than two million people went to the city's suburbs, parks and barren hills today, planted 1.2 million trees and watered 3.6 million other trees. Jiang planted a pine tree and a maidenhair tree. Accompanied by Jia Qinglin, Secretary of Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, and Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Forestry Administration, Jiang also watered two other trees. The State Forestry Administration Bureau official told Jiang that the voluntary tree planting activity has been carried out in China for 20 years, creating 47 million ha of new forests across the country, a world record. As a result, 43 percent of Beijing's territory is now covered by trees and green belts, Jia said. This is the 12th year in a row that Jiang Zemin has taken part in Tree Planting Day in Beijing. "Olympic Green," situated at the northern end of the city proper, covers 1,215 ha, including 760 ha of forested area and green belts. The park will be the center of most of the competitions to be held if Beijing wins the bid. "Today, with its sunshine, is a good day to plant trees," said Li Peng, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee. Premier Zhu Rongji said that he was "not tired at all" after the tree-planting labor. Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Li Ruihuan, Hu Jintao, Wei Jianxing and Li Lanqing also joined the tree-planting activity. |
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