From our archives
August 29, 1983
Province helps minorities to build houses
The Heilongjiang provincial government has allocated 3.2 million yuan this year to build new homes for 300 households of the Oroqen, one of China's smallest minority ethnic groups.
Forty-eight households at the Xinsheng People's Commune in Heibo city, and 82 of the 120 Oroqen families in Xunke county have moved into their new homes, and 43 more houses have been completed in Shibazhan commune, Tahe county.
The 2,013 Oroqens who were hunters before recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of their resettlement as land farmers with officials' participation.
Trees halt desert invasion
Trees and grass planted in the past 30 years have almost halted the southward spread of the 16,000-sq km Mu Us Desert into Yulin prefecture in Shaanxi province.
Plans to build three tree belts stretching 950 km have been 82 percent fulfilled, protecting 80,000 hectares of farmland there.
A conference earlier this month on economic development of arid and semi-arid areas of north China commended the achievements and called for planting of more trees and grass to help yield a balanced development of agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry.
Beijing to control local air pollution
Beijing's authorities are determined to cut down pollutant air, most of which was discharged by the numerous small coal-burning boilers scattered around the city, by combining these small ones into fewer centralized heating systems.
Policies and measures will be carried out soon in combining heating systems owned by different neighboring departments after years of persuasive efforts in doing so have turned out to be a failure due to non-cooperation by departments.
Last year, an estimated 12,000 heat-supply boilers in Beijing discharged 263,000 tons of sulphur dioxide into the air.

(China Daily 09/02/2008 page9)