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White Ants Cause Chaos in Xi'an
White ants have invaded the ancient city of Xi'an, the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, with local officials declaring it a disaster.
The insects have been found in homes, shops, storehouses in factories and some ancient buildings, and in some cases, buildings have been irreparably damaged.
Some shops in Dongdajie, one of the city's busiest business street, have to close so the problem can be dealt with, according to Gao Lianggang, director of the Xi'an White Ants Protecting and Controlling Research Institute.
"From May 1 until 7, we have received reports that ants have been discovered in more than 150 places in the city. On Tuesday alone we received 86 telephone calls to report white ants had been found. It is going to be a disaster," said Gao.
The ants don't actually harm humans, but they eat food in houses and walk about on clothes.
"With the climate getting warmer and warmer, the disaster will become more serious, and we must make every effort to control it," added Gao.
He said white ants usually live in the roots, trunks or even on the leaves of trees, or sometimes in the soil around trees.
The ants easily get into nearby houses themselves, or enter buildings on items being carried in.
Xi'an is an ancient capital and tourism hot spot. In the past hundreds of years, the city has suffered from a problem with white ants and the situation has become worse in recent years.
"Since 1999, 17 ancient buildings out of total of 24 in Xi'an have been damaged to varying extents by white ants. Many of the buildings are State-level ancient protected units, such as the Dayan Pagoda, the Beilin Museum and the Mosque," Gao said.
In Dongdajie Street, Xi'an's busiest commercial district, 24 per cent of the shops are reported to have found white ants, and some shops have been totally destroyed by the insects, the director said.
The white ant likes to eat wood and cables, and therefore threatens old houses mainly built of wood, and also modern buildings which are often decorated with wood. It eats its way inside so sometimes buildings are irreversibly damaged by the time the ant is discovered.
"In the past we tried many ways to protect and control the insects, including cultivating the natural enemies of white ants. But after a while these natural enemies began to peacefully coexist with the white ants," the director said.
He said the main problem was a lack of cash and a lack of a long-term plan to control the insects, as well as the fact that "we don't have enough of a labour force to deal with it," Gao said.
However the institute is making a big effort to control the ants.
"We mainly use special medicines which do no harm to people, buildings or the environment in order to wipe out the insects and after the treatment, buildings which had the insects will be protected from them for at least 15 years," the director said.
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